


Forgettable Secrets

by Fangirlwriting



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Amnesia, Angst, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders Angst, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders Needs a Hug, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders Are Twins, Kid Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Kid Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Lies, M/M, Protective Deceit | Janus Sanders, Superhero Deceit | Janus Sanders, Superhero Logic | Logan Sanders, Superhero Morality | Patton Sanders, Superheroes, Supervillian Virgil, Temporary Amnesia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-11
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:53:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 26
Words: 70,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28002696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fangirlwriting/pseuds/Fangirlwriting
Summary: Virgil has been able to erase memories since he was a little kid, and his best friend Janus is similar in that he has a superpower too, the ability to sense lies and secrets.  Virgil never really intends to use his power other than to get rid of awkward moments that would otherwise keep him up at night, but unfortunately, the new student Diggory has other plans, and his actions towards Virgil will dramatically alter his life in a way Virgil isn't sure he'll ever be able to come back from.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Deceit | Janus Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Deceit | Janus Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Logic | Logan Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Morality | Patton Sanders, Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders & Logic | Logan Sanders, Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders & Morality | Patton Sanders, Deceit | Janus Sanders & Logic | Logan Sanders, Deceit | Janus Sanders & Morality | Patton Sanders, Logic | Logan Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders
Comments: 483
Kudos: 166





	1. Chapter 1

According to Janus, Diggory was not good friend material.

Now, Janus, Mr. All the World is Shades of Grey would not normally be a good source of judgement for that kind of thing, if it weren’t for his super power.

Virgil definitely wouldn’t have told Janus about his power if Janus hadn’t opened up first, and that had taken a long time on it’s own. They were fast friends when Janus had transferred there in freshman year of high school, but it still took Virgil a long time to trust anyone else. But by junior year he was fairly sure they’d gotten there, so when Janus had told Virgil that he knew this was going to sound crazy, but he could  _ feel it _ when people were lying or hiding something from him… well, Virgil had told him about his own power.

Virgil had traced the source of his power to when he was a kid— the time he’d found his dad hitting his mom. His dad had gotten right up in his face and told him to forget he’d seen it. And suddenly, Virgil could make other people forget things. It had taken him a while to figure it out. About as long as it had taken his mom to finally kick his dad out of the house, and Virgil made his dad forget the address on the way out. They hadn’t seen him since.

Janus’ power, fortunately for him, didn’t take any time to practice or understand, unless you counted Janus learning to be able to tell who was the liar or secret keeper in a large crowd of people. Janus said that where he eventually figured his power had come from was when he was in third grade and being bullied by a kid who always managed to convince the teacher that it was Janus’ fault. That had lasted up until the kid broke Janus’ leg shoving him off of the playground set, which is when the teacher finally believed him, and told Janus how sorry she was that she hadn’t.

(And Janus could tell she was lying.)

The point of all of this being, when Janus told Virgil that Diggory had more lies and secrets than the Secret Service, and he didn’t think Diggory was a good person to be friends with, Virgil believed him.

That didn’t, however, stop Diggory from bothering them to no end.

Virgil could at least understand, from an asshole’s perspective. He and Janus were easy targets. They were each other’s only friends, they weren’t super well liked by any teachers, and they both lived with single parents who didn’t have a ton of time to check up on their kids, even if they did love them. The only real card the two of them had to play was to ignore it until it went away.

This worked… fairly well, at least for a little while. Having to watch your step was never fun, but they weren’t hurt or humiliated, and for the most part their lives continued as normal.

“Normal” being a relative term when you had superpowers, of course.

You would be surprised how often Virgil’s powers had everyday purposes, but erasing memories came up more often than one would think. Especially for someone as anxious as he was. Suffice to say, no one would ever have any proof of the fact that he said ‘you too’ when that waiter told him to enjoy his meal.

Janus’ power being useful wasn’t as surprising. There were obviously numerous times when it would come in handy to know when someone was lying or keeping something from you— although Janus had said that lying was far more common than anyone realized. He had been forced a long time ago to stop thinking of lying as a bad thing in order to avoid having trust issues to the moon.

“What’s the deal with Diggory, then?” Virgil had asked, raising an eyebrow.

“He doesn’t lie enough,” Janus said, and Virgil turned a baffled look in his direction.

“Didn’t you say the opposite? Something about him having more lies and secrets than the Secret Service?”

“That was a bit of an oversimplification,” Janus admitted. “Everyone lies, Virgil, all the time. It’s not bad, not even abnormal. We lie because we’re insecure, anxious, trying to impress, hell, talking too fast. Sometimes a lie slips into a conversation without the person intending it to at all. There’s a certain number of lies per day that is… normal, so to speak.”

“And Diggory doesn’t meet that amount?”

“He likes manipulative half truths far too much for my liking,” Janus said. “He spends too much time thinking about what his words are going to mean and how they are going to come across. Anyone who does that has something to hide. He’s hiding behind a false honesty.”

Virgil stared at Janus for a second. “Spend a lot of time thinking about that, have ya?”

“Shut up.”

Virgil smirked.

So, anyway. Ignoring it seemed to be working, at least for the time being. But that all changed on a terrifying Monday.

Virgil and Janus both made a habit of eating lunch outside on the football bleachers, so they could talk about whatever they wanted and not have to deal with the noise in the cafeteria, which annoyed Virgil on a good day and overwhelmed him on a bad day. Virgil had just gotten his lunch from his locker and was just about to slip out the back door when someone roughly grabbed his arm and yanked him to the side. Before Virgil could cry out, he found himself inside the janitor’s closet.

“Don’t say anything,” someone snapped, shoving a hand over his mouth as Virgil contemplated how he was about to die. Someone stepped forward from further in the closet and Virgil suddenly became aware that there were two people in here with him.

So he was also outnumbered. Awesome.

“Virgil, hello,” came a more familiar voice, and Virgil’s fear of death faded into annoyance. The person behind him moved his hand from over his mouth to holding Virgil’s arms behind his back.

“Diggory,” he said. “What the hell do you want?”

“I’d like to talk about your superpower.”

Nevermind, the panic was back. Shit shit shit, Janus was the better liar!

“Uh… what? Those aren’t a thing.”

“That’s cute, Virgil, but lies aren’t going to work with Scott.”

“Um. What? Who?”

The person holding his arms grunted, and Virgil looked up above him until he met his gaze. God. Diggory had a grunt.

“Scott here,” Diggory said. “Has a superpower too. He can sense other powers and who has them. And while most of the time it’s a useless power, it does come in handy when you happen to find someone who can erase memories.”

Virgil tried very hard not to let his panic show on his face, but given that he was about ten seconds away from a panic attack, he doubted he was very successful.

He was proven right when Diggory chuckled. “Calm down, Virgil, I don’t want to hurt you. I just want to talk.”

“Yeah, I really got that from the way you had muscles here restraining me.”

“Oh, come now Virgil. All I wanted this time is to make sure you were aware of me. We’re going to be talking much more in the future.”

“Oh, are we now? Says who, exactly?”

“Says Janus,” Diggory said with a smile.

Virgil raised an eyebrow. “I’m sorry?”

“Janus is currently outside on the bleachers. He’s waiting for you.”

“And you know this how?”

Diggory smiled a little wider. “I am a metallokinetic.”

“Uh… gesundheit.”

Diggory sighed. “Think telekinetic but with metal.”

“Great. I don’t see how that relates to Janus, though. Newsflash, but neither of us really like you.”

“Easy. Janus is sitting near the top of the bleachers. If they were to happen to collapse under him the fall could easily be fatal.”

Virgil’s blood ran cold. “Don’t hurt him,” he said instantly.

“Oh, never.” Diggory paused and smirked at Virgil. “So long as you don’t tell him we’ve spoken. And are willing to talk again in the future.”

Virgil felt a little lightheaded. Maybe he was still dreaming? It kind of felt like he was still dreaming. “Janus will be able to tell if I’m keeping something from him,” he said weakly.

Diggory laughed. “Scott can affect powers too, Virgil. Make them stop working for a time. I told you already, he’s not completely useless.”

“Scott can—” Virgil suddenly wanted to get as far away from Scott as possible.

Diggory raised an eyebrow. “Well? Do we have an agreement.”

Virgil swallowed, and nodded.

Diggory’s expression relaxed into a smile, and he nodded at Scott, who let him go and didn’t stop Virgil from sprinting out of the janitor’s closet as quickly as he could. He suddenly felt very trapped inside the school, and sprinted for the side doors that led to the football field, ignoring the couple of stares he got as he did.

Janus was in fact sitting on top of the bleachers as Virgil approached. His breath caught in his throat, even as Janus smiled down at him.

“Hey, what took you so long?”

“Can we eat on the grass today?” Virgil blurted.

Janus gave him a confused look. “Um, yeah, sure. Any particular reason why?”

“No,” Virgil lied. “Just don’t want to sit on the bleachers when it’s getting colder.”  _ Come on, call me out. _

But Janus just shrugged and stood up, starting down the bleachers to loud clangs as he hit each step (which were definitely far too annoying). They both ended up on the track surrounding the football field instead of the grass itself, but that was fine, as long as it wasn’t metal.

Janus seemed to pick up on the fact that  _ something _ was wrong, which wasn’t surprising, but he also didn’t seem to want to bring it up to Virgil, which was disappointing and a little terrifying. And apparently, there wasn’t much he could do about it.

What the hell had he just gotten dragged into?

…

Virgil saw a lot more of Diggory after that, as well as taking notice of Scott, who did a fantastic job at blending into the background even if he was always next to Diggory. Janus seemed to notice that he was more anxious than normal, but Scott’s powers must work like a charm, because he never brought up anything that Virgil was hiding from him.

Virgil didn’t actually get another chance to talk to Diggory until days after their first chat, when he was pulled aside into the auditorium after school ended but before he could head outside to the busses.

“Okay, so you hang around the lie detector far more often than I thought,” Diggory said.

“Don’t call him that,” Virgil said, shoving his hands in his pockets in order to not reveal how they were starting to shake.

“That makes it more difficult to talk to you than I was intending it to be,” Diggory said. “So I’m going to need your phone number.” He held out his hand, clearly expecting Virgil to hand his phone over.

Well, he wasn’t exactly thrilled with the idea of giving his phone number to a potential murderer. Virgil hesitated just long enough for Scott to take a purposeful step forward. Virgil snatched his phone out of his pocket and passed it over, and Diggory entered Virgil’s number into his own phone. He handed it back a second later without having entered his number.

“I’ll text you when I need you,” Diggory said. “Make sure not to give me a contact name, it will make it more believable that it’s a wrong number if you ever need to lie about that. I’ll let you know what to do if you do.”

Virgil slid his phone back into his pocket and went back to trying to stop his hands from shaking. Diggory glanced up at him after a second. “You can go now.”

Luckily Virgil didn’t ride the same bus as Janus, because he spent most of the ride home that day trying to work off a panic attack in the seat right behind the driver— fewer kids sat up there.

Diggory texted later that night, while Virgil was watching videos about cryptids on his bed.

(919) 867-5309: I have your first assignment

Virgil: Uh, what? Who is this?

Virgil: Oh

Virgil: Do you have to call it an assignment? That’s lame.

(919) 867-5309: Do you know a freshman named Stacy

Virgil: Yeah

(919) 867-5309: Steal her lunch money

Virgil: Um

Virgil: What

(919) 867-5309: Steal her lunch money

Virgil: I am not bullying some poor freshman

(919) 867-5309: Are you aware of how many metal things reside in Janus’ house? Or your mother’s work as a matter of fact?

Virgil dropped his phone and buried his head into his pillow.

Virgil: How do you know where my mother works? Or where Janus lives? You’re bluffing.

(919) 867-5309: If you want to assume I’m ignorant, be my guest.

Virgil buried his head in his hands this time. He definitely got what Janus meant by being careful with his words now. No one could reasonably construe comments about metal as an actual murder threat. Unless you were dealing with a metal-controlling person, but there was no way Virgil could prove or even claim that without sounding insane.

Virgil: Why do you want me to steal some poor girls lunch money?

(919) 867-5309: It would be amusing to see you try and be an asshole.

(919) 867-5309: I have no problems if you want to erase the girl’s memory afterwards.

Virgil wanted to scream. He wanted to scream and he wanted Janus to call him out on all the lying he was about to do and he wanted to not take lunch money from a girl who had never done anything to him in his life. But if he tried to get out of it or tone it down in any way there was a good chance Diggory would fucking murder his best friend.

Meaning that the following day at school Virgil found a girl who was about six inches shorter than him and grabbed her by the back of her hood. Diggory was a fucking coward.

Stacy was jerked backwards hard enough that she stumbled and grabbed onto Virgil to hold herself up.

“Hey,” Virgil said. “You have lunch money?”

Stacy stared up at him with wide eyes and nodded.

“Give me it,” Virgil said.

“Wh-what? No.”

Virgil leaned further down until he was nearly nose-to-nose with Stacy. “Now.”

Stacy seemed to have smarts enough not to refuse a second time, and Virgil watched as she scrambled to pull a couple of dollars out of her pocket. She shoved it at him and sprinted in the other direction. Well, that happened faster than he’d expected it to. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that he was six inches taller than her. Fucking coward, Diggory.

Virgil had thought about it all morning, and had finally decided to erase her memory rather than have the school hate him for something he didn’t want to do. So as the girl was running around the corner, Virgil reached out, searched through her memories, which didn’t take long since the one he was looking for had been made just a second ago, and wiped it. The girl straightened up and looked around in slight confusion before continuing around the corner.

Virgil looked down and bit his lip, probably a little too hard. That didn’t feel much better than taking her money in the first place. He started down the hall again and was debating skipping first period when he felt a tentative hand on his shoulder.

Virgil jumped and spun to the side to see Janus. “Sorry,” he said, holding up his hands and looking at him curiously. “Are you alright? You looked very upset a second ago.”

“I’m…” Virgil couldn’t come up with a lie fast enough, and it was obvious Janus noticed.

“Okay, come on. We’re not staying here today.”

“Huh?”

“Time for a mental health day.”

“Janus, we don’t have a car.”

“I meant our diner, let’s go get some breakfast,” Janus said, holding out his hand and raising an eyebrow. They had a diner nearby that they frequented when they wanted to skip school.

Virgil hesitated for a second. He was about to reply when he noticed Diggory looking at them both from across the hallway.

“Okay, let’s go,” Virgil said, grabbing Janus’ hand and following him back out the doors. The bell hadn’t rung yet, so no one could yell at them.

It was about five minutes later as they were both walking towards the diner that Virgil’s phone buzzed. He ignored it until they arrived. They both sat down at the front counter, and after ordering Janus went to the bathroom, and Virgil pulled out his phone.

(919) 867-5309: Where are you?

Virgil: I went to get breakfast with Janus. I already stole her money, I’ll give it to you tomorrow.

(919) 867-5309: You better. Don’t do that again.

Virgil tried to swallow back the panic that rose with that text before Janus came back out. He managed to do so fairly decently, and by the time Janus sat down again the waitress brought them their drinks, so it worked out all right.

Virgil had gotten coffee and Janus hot chocolate, because apparently coffee was for peasants (his words). Janus seemed to pick up on the fact that Virgil didn’t want to talk— or he did, but there were reasons he couldn’t. So instead, he brought up the Shakespeare he had to read for English class and how he was enjoying it far more than he expected he would.

“I think I might want to be an english teacher,” Janus mused.

“Huh. Yeah, I guess I could see you liking that,” Virgil said.

“What about you,” Janus asked, raising an eyebrow. “Any plans?”

“Yeah, I’m going to marry a rich person and be a housewife.”

Janus laughed, and Virgil managed a smile as the waitress brought Virgil’s pancakes and Janus’ omelette.

“Okay, but seriously,” Janus said as she walked away. “I know how much you would hate that.”

“Hey, the staying home alone all the time wouldn’t suck,” Virgil pointed out. “But… yeah, I would. I would hate the idea of being dependent on someone else. I’ve got no clues what I want to do, though.” He thought for a minute. “Don’t know about marriage, either, to be honest.”

“I have a four-part plan for marriage,” Janus said casually, before taking a sip of his hot chocolate in much too dramatic of a way.

“Oh, do you now?” Virgil said, rolling his eyes.

“Indeed. First, they take me on a fantastic first date. Something in a museum.”

“A museum?” Virgil asked.

“Yes. Preferably an art museum. Art is underappreciated. And then they would prove their loyalty to me.”

“How would they do that?” Virgil asked, taking a bite of his pancakes and trying not to laugh.

“Well, I’m sure I don’t know, I’ve never dated before,” Janus said. “It would depend on the person. And then we would date for however long we deem necessary. Then they propose on a date mirroring our first one.”

“Art museum,” Virgil said, actually laughing this time. “You want to be proposed to in an art museum.”

“Absolutely,” Janus said, looking at Virgil with a mock serious face. “You mean you haven’t stayed up late into the night thinking about what your plans are should you want to get married?”

_ “You _ haven’t actually done that, you idiot,” Virgil said, smacking Janus on the arm. He took another bite of pancakes as he considered the question. “I don’t know. I just want them to love me.”

Janus raised an eyebrow. “Well, I would hope so. You’re setting the bar a little low there, hmm?”

“Higher than you’d think,” Virgil muttered, poking at his pancakes. “I mean I want them to actually love me. Not like Dad. I want them to find some way to show me they care. And I want to be able to believe them. That doesn’t really sound like a low bar to me.”

Janus went quiet for a moment. Virgil had told Janus about his dad before. It was a hard topic for Virgil to discuss, but he knew Janus’ feelings about the man— pure, uncomplicated hatred. It had to be easier when he had never met him.

“Well,” Janus said finally. “Regardless, that doesn’t seem so unreasonable to me.”

They finished their food and paid, and then stayed after for a while, talking about nothing in particular.

By the time they walked back to school to catch the bus at the end of the day, Virgil couldn’t say the day had been fantastic overall, but it had gotten much better than how it had started out.

He hoped Stacy had friends who hadn’t minded paying for her lunch.

…

Well, if Diggory wanted to get him kicked out of school he was on the right track. Virgil would admit it was far more likely that he just wanted to know what was going to be on the test and was using Virgil as a way to make that happen. Didn’t make it less dangerous for Virgil himself, but he could see the intent there.

There was a little bit of luck involved for Virgil himself, since he had the class right before lunch and Mrs. Jackson would be leaving the room at the same time as everyone else. So all he had to do was take a longer time leaving. And then break into a teacher’s desk.

Piece of cake.

Virgil managed to do the first part pretty well. Precedent probably helped, because although he was usually the first one out of the classroom, it meant Mrs. Jackson wasn’t used to looking for him as she left.

Virgil pulled out a paperclip and headed up to the desk, trying not to breathe too quickly. He’d seen her lock the main drawer that she’d put the finished tests in. Virgil had learned how to pick locks in middle school, as he’d decided that he might as well spend the years of hell learning something useful. He almost wished he hadn’t, though, because that would have meant he could use it as an excuse for why not to do this now.

Virgil got the desk drawer open in under a minute, and there was the test. He snapped a picture of each page and locked the drawer again, and had just walked around to the other side of the desk when the door opened and Mrs. Jackson walked back in.

“Virgil? What are you doing?”

“Uh— forgot my lunchbox!” Virgil said, holding up the lunchbox now in his hand. “Sorry, I’ll get out of your hair!”

“Oh, that’s alright,” Mrs. Jackson said, as Virgil headed out of the room. “Enjoy your lunch.”

“Yeah, thanks!” Virgil called.

He ran part of the way down the hallway and leaned against the lockers to catch his breath. He stayed there for roughly half a minute, and then headed for the janitor’s closet where Diggory had told him to come.

He knocked on the door and waited a couple seconds before it was opened by Scott. “I took pictures,” he said, waving his phone. “I’ll send them to you,”

“Alright, that’s fine,” Diggory said, not looking up from his own phone in the background. “Enjoy your lunch.”

Virgil wanted to punch his eyes out of his head, but instead he just turned and started for the doors that would lead to the football field, pulling out his phone to text the pictures on the way.

Janus was waiting on the track, as Virgil wasn’t comfortable with them eating on the bleachers anymore. Janus didn’t understand the reason, but he was fine with it. Virgil was pretty sure he’d bullshitted some excuse about a nightmare.

Virgil sat down and immediately dropped his head onto Janus’ shoulder.

“Rough day?” Janus asked, patting him on the back.

“I bombed a test.”

…

Virgil had always known Diggory was an ass. Well, he’d known it since Janus had told him he didn't seem like a great person and he’d started being blackmailed by him. But Virgil had to make a tremendous effort over the next couple weeks to not strangle him.

By the time three weeks had passed, Virgil had bullied kids, stolen multiple quizzes and tests, stolen alcohol and almost gotten caught, and grown to have difficulty remembering the fact that Diggory was  _ forcing _ him to do all of it. Kind of ironic, what with his power.

One of his least favorite examples was when Diggory told him to pick a fight with his mother.

Virgil’s mother knew about his power. He had told her about it when he was a kid, and when his dad had called asking what the address was after he’d been kicked out, his mom had given him a look, and Virgil had nodded to confirm what was no doubt her theory. She ended up believing him. But that had led to them talking a lot about it and setting up all sorts of rules, which made it a little bit of a tense topic sometimes.

It also made it the perfect topic to start a fight about.

“I want to erase my teachers memory of my presentation,” Virgil lied one night at dinner.

“Virgil,” his mom said with a sigh. “We’ve talked about this. You can’t use your powers that way, it’s not fair to the other kids. And at this point all it would do is hurt your own grade.”

“But I did awful, and it was embarrassing,” Virgil said, trying not to choke on the lump in his throat. He  _ hated _ lying to his mother.

“I understand that, Virgil, and I’m sorry. But I’m sure you’ll still get a decent grade if you put most of the work in, and it would be better than a zero.”

“Easy for you to say,” Virgil snapped, trying to channel some of the anger he had towards Diggory into his tone. “You’re out of high school.”

“I still remember and understand what it was like, believe it or not,” his mother said. “And I didn’t have superpowers.”

“That doesn’t make it easier!”

“Virgil,” his mother raised an eyebrow. “You don’t need to yell about it. I understand.”

“No you don’t! Superpowers cause problems! You wouldn’t know because you don’t have any!”

Virgil wasn’t sure how much longer he could fabricate a fight he didn’t want to have, so instead he slid his chair back and stormed out of the room.

“That wasn’t very believable,” came a voice from his pocket. Virgil snatched up his phone and barely refrained from slamming it on his ear.

“I’m not actually mad at my mother, genius,” he hissed. “It’s kind of hard to yell at her when I don’t want to.”

“You’re going to have to get better at acting.”

“Oh, yeah, why’s that? You gonna make me join the school play next?”

“Now that’s an idea. That would be pretty embarrassing, wouldn’t it? I’ll pencil it in as a maybe.” And with that, Diggory hung up.

Virgil had never quite been sure what the purpose of all of this was. It seemed to just be for Diggory to be amused, because he never complained when Virgil erased everyone’s memory afterwards. That made him feel worse sometimes, but he wasn’t sure he could deal with everyone hating him because some dickwad wanted to make him dance like a puppet.

There were times it all made him want to scream. There were also times he briefly considered telling Diggory to fuck off, but then he would get a smile from his mother or a laugh from Janus and have to swallow down the guilt at even  _ briefly _ considering it.

Why did Diggory only want to make  _ his _ life miserable? Janus had powers too. It’s not that Virgil  _ wanted _ Janus to be fucked with, but it would definitely make him feel less… alone. He was pretty sure he hadn’t felt this isolated since before he met Janus.

Maybe that was the point.

Diggory’s requests had been getting worse the last couple days. Virgil had committed several crimes that he’d almost gotten caught doing, and he had to thank his lucky stars several times that he was still a minor. He hoped to any god that might exist that Diggory would stop soon.

When Virgil finally got the message that he wasn’t going to, it was a Friday.

Friday’s were good for several new reasons that hadn’t existed before. Usually Diggory didn’t ask as much of him during the weekend, and Virgil also often spent it with Janus, so it was a win-win, if such a thing truly existed for him anymore.

He could tell Janus was picking up on the fact that Virgil had been even more anxious than usual for longer than was really healthy. He’d asked him about it a couple times, but Virgil’s lies combined with Scott’s power kept him from finding out the truth, despite how much Virgil wished that wasn’t the case.

Janus rode the bus home with Virgil on Fridays, which was nice. They would sit close to the front and talk about how stupid it was that homework was still assigned over the weekend. Janus would sometimes point out who had crushes on who, and sometimes he could tell if it was requited. Virgil would usually make at least one comment about forgetting that he had something important to do. All in all, good times.

Virgil wasn’t sure if Diggory knew that Janus spent the night every Friday. He would be surprised if he didn’t at this point. It didn’t make the text more welcome or less annoying, but Diggory probably knew that. Virgil ignored it until they were both in his room and trying to fall asleep, but thankfully, Virgil’s night improved drastically when he looked at the text.

(919) 867-5309: I have your final assignment.

Virgil looked up at the ceiling and whispered “Oh thank fuck,” as quietly as he could, although he was pretty sure Janus was asleep by that point.

Virgil: What is it?

(919) 867-5309: Scott and I are leaving. We’re going underground and starting something much bigger. You’re coming with us.

Virgil dropped his phone on his chest as his breath caught. Were they nuts?

Virgil: Are you nuts?

(919) 867-5309: I am positive you know by now that I’m not. Meet me outside the library tomorrow at noon. We’ll leave from there.

Virgil: Hang on, let’s think about this for a minute. We’re all high school juniors. Where would we go? How would we survive?

(919) 867-5309: Trust me, that’s all taken care of.

Virgil looked down at his blankets and tried to steel his nerve.

Virgil: I don’t want to leave. I like my life here.

(919) 867-5309: That’s certainly your decision. Just be aware of the consequences that it will bring. I’d hate to lose your companionship, Virgil. I’ll see you tomorrow. You can prepare to leave in any ways you’d like.

Virgil put his phone down on his bed and tried hard not to cry. What was he supposed to do? He couldn’t actually pack up and leave with two other kids, could he? And what the hell did he mean by starting something much bigger? Virgil was fine with starting something much smaller for his life. Going to college and getting a job that would support whatever family he might end up with so he could eventually die in obscurity. That sounded nice.

But he had reasons he couldn’t refuse, didn’t he?

Virgil looked down at Janus, sleeping on the air mattress on the floor, and blinked a couple times to get rid of the tears that had started to form at this point.

If it was between him getting involved in something he didn’t want to or having to live with the knowledge that his refusal killed his best friend and his mother… how was it even a choice?

Virgil left the house early the next morning after his stop in his mother’s room. He went to the diner he’d gone to with Janus and got the same pancakes and coffee as last time. He’d packed his favorite outfits in his backpack, some snacks that he would actually enjoy eating, his phone and phone charger, and the journal his mom had gotten him for his birthday that he never used. He’d hidden all of the other things from his room that he might have actually wanted to keep if he could in a corner in the attic that his mom never touched.

The library was almost too far to walk to on his own, not like it mattered. Virgil started heading there after breakfast, and headed up the steps. He arrived at about ten minutes until noon and was about to head inside, when—

“So you snuck out to come to the library?”

Virgil yelped and whirled around to find Janus just a couple steps below him. “Janus—”

“What’s going on, Virgil? You—” Janus stepped another step closer and paused. “Virgil, why— why do you suddenly have so many secrets? I saw you just last night and you didn’t have any. What happened—”

Virgil’s phone buzzed in his hand and he looked down at it anxiously.

(919) 867-5309: I’ll be there in five minutes.

Virgil reached out and grabbed Janus’ hand, yanking them both into the library.

“What— Virgil!”

He pulled them both over until they were out of view of the doors and spent a few seconds catching his breath as Janus stared at him.

“Virgil, seriously, what’s happening? Are you okay?”

“How did you find me?”

“I saw you sneaking out of the house,” Janus said, crossing his arms. “So I grabbed my stuff and I followed you.”

“Of course you did,” Virgil said, burying his head in his hands.

“Virgil, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Virgil said on instinct. “I’m fine.”

“You’re lying.”

Why had Scott stopped affecting Janus? Was it just because they were leaving?

“I’m—” Virgil looked back over towards the doors and felt his heart beating into his throat. What would Diggory do if he came in here and saw him talking to Janus? He was pretty sure the library had some kind of metal in it.

“Virgil.” Janus reached forward and grabbed Virgil by the shoulders. “Take a deep breath.”

Virgil tried and half-managed to do that. Janus pulled them both over to a more secluded section of the library. “Come on, let’s go home,” he said.

“No!” Virgil burst out instantly. “Mom won’t let us in.”

“Wh— why wouldn’t she?”

Virgil looked down. “I…”

“Virgil, what did you do?”

Virgil flinched and looked up at Janus. “I erased her memory?” he whispered.

Janus’ eyes widened. “Of the two of  _ us?” _

Virgil nodded.

“Virgil, what the— did— did she hurt you?”

“No!” Virgil said instantly. “No, she didn’t hurt me!”

“Then why would you do that?”

“I—” Virgil looked away and tried very hard not to cry. “I have to go.”

“No you don’t. Why? Go where?”

“I can’t tell you, Janus.”

“Why not?”

“Diggory— he—”

“Diggory?” Janus took a step back. “What did he do?”

“I can’t  _ tell you,” _ Virgil insisted. “Janus you—” he looked down at his phone again. No new texts, yet. “You need to get out of here.”

“Why?”

“Because if he sees you he’ll think you’re here to help me and then he’ll— he’ll—” Virgil’s breath was catching again, and he was trying to slow his breathing down, but it wasn’t working very well.

“VIrgil, I’m not going to leave you when you’re panicking,” Janus said.

“You have to! You have to go, you can’t stay here!”

“Why? Virgil, just tell me what’s going on!”

“I can’t!”

“Virgil, I— I know you believe that or you’d come off as lying, but I want to help. What’s happening, you can tell me.”

Virgil’s phone buzzed, and his heart leapt to his throat.

(919) 867-5309: I’m here. If you’re not here in five minutes I’m leaving without you, and you know what that will mean.

Virgil’s breathing picked up even more, and Janus pulled him into a hug. “Virgil, it’s okay. It’s going to be okay.”

“You need to go,” Virgil said, pushing at Janus’ chest, but it was too weak to actually get him to leave. “Please. Please just go.”

“Virgil.”

Virgil looked up in time to see Janus’ face set in determination. “I’m not going to leave you,” he said.

Virgil looked down at his phone again. “No, you’re not,” he realized. He had badly wanted to avoid doing this.

Janus seemed to take his statement as something else entirely, though, because he seemed relieved the next second. “Are you going to explain now?” he asked.

Virgil reached up and pressed two fingertips to Janus’ forehead. It would take too long to go through two years of memories otherwise, and if he was touching skin close to someone’s brain, it always made it easier to sort more quickly. It took Virgil about a minute and half to get rid of everything, which was too long but would have to do.

He gently pushed Janus backwards and turned and walked in the other direction before he could question why a stranger was randomly touching him. He made it to a bookshelf nearby before Janus said anything else.

“How did I end up in the library?” he muttered to himself, before Virgil heard his footsteps walking away. He glanced over his shoulder to see, thankfully, Janus wasn’t leaving through the front door, and instead going out one off to the right that would lead to a side street.

Virgil turned back to the bookshelf and pressed his forehead to it, not even bothering to try and stop the tears that had started to stream down his face. He pressed a hand over his mouth and gave himself five seconds to breath before he stood up, wiped his tears, and gripped the straps of his backpack tightly.

He headed for the front doors of the library and stepped out to find Diggory leaning against a car at the bottom of the steps. Scott was probably the silhouette inside the car, and Virgil spotted another driver in the front that he was pretty sure he hadn’t met before.

“Virgil!” Diggory called happily when he noticed him. “Perfect timing, I was just about to text you again. Are you ready to go?”

Virgil nodded, swallowing past the lump in his throat.

“Excellent. Come on then, you can have a window seat.”


	2. Chapter 2

Patton could easily say that this was the happiest day of his life. Here he was, sitting in a limo with his husband— his  _ husband _ — on the way to their  _ wedding reception! _ Logan wasn’t one for showing a ton of emotion, but Patton hadn’t seen him stop smiling all day. Patton had cried tears of joy multiple times throughout the ceremony, and he most certainly wasn’t done.

For now, they were both tucked together in the back seat for what was probably the last moment they were going to get alone for a long while.

Granted, the reception wasn’t going to be huge. Logan had already told Patton he didn’t want a ton of people there, since there was no real reason for weddings to be so expensive and quite a bit of it was due to the industry wanting more money, anyway. Patton had laughed, pointed out how many people were going to want to see them get married, and eventually they had decided on a number somewhere in the middle.

Patton turned his face up towards Logan and smiled at him. “You look stunning,” he said quietly. “I don’t know if I got to say that earlier.”

“We were getting married earlier,” Logan said, smiling back at him. “When would you have had the chance to? And you look radiant.”

“Logan,” Patton said, nudging Logan playfully in the arm. “Stop beating all of my compliments.”

“Never. You deserve to be out-complimented for the rest of your life,” Logan said, smiling at him. Patton beamed back before kissing him, then pulled his face down closer in order to get better access to the rest of his face and pepper kisses all over his cheeks, forehead, and nose. It dusted Logan’s cheeks with the hint of a blush and made Patton smile even wider.

“I love you so much,” he said. “And I married you! We’re married!” It still didn’t quite feel real no matter how many times he said it. What had he done to deserve someone like Logan?

“We are,” Logan replied, pressing a kiss to Patton’s forehead that made him smile yet wider. “And that is certainly pleasant.”

“Oh, it’s  _ pleasant?” _ Patton teased. “Excellent adjective. Very professional, Honey-bear.”

Logan raised an eyebrow. “Very well. It’s delightful. It’s euphoric. I’m positively jubilant.”

Patton was pretty sure his own cheeks were pink at this point. He didn’t have a good reply other than to leap forward and kiss Logan again.

The car pulled to a stop a couple seconds after that, and Patton turned and smiled at Logan, who looked a little bit more apprehensive. “Are you ready to face a bunch of people who are incredibly happy for us?”

“I’d rather spend the rest of the day looking at you,” Logan admitted. “But I suppose our families will suffice as well.”

Patton laughed and reached for the door handle. “Here we go.”

…

At the end of the night, Patton could agree with Logan that the reception was a little overwhelming. He adored dancing with both of his mother’s, and he was pretty sure Logan was very happy to dance with his own. And naturally, dancing with each other simply reminded them both of how amazing this day had been and the rest of their lives were going to be.

But it was true that there were still quite a few people there, and after a time all the congratulations got to be a bit much. Patton’s favorite part of the night so far was when he managed to get a moment to sit down at their table at the front of the room, and watch Logan dancing with his cousins to “Brown Eyed Girl.” He had danced with his Emile just a bit ago to “Sweet Caroline” and needed a break from all of the moving around.

One of his mothers found her way over to him while he was sitting down, and Patton smiled up at her. “Are you taking a break from dancing?” she asked.

“Just for a minute,” he said. “This is all wonderful, but also a bit much.” He smiled back at the dance floor. “Although I think Logan would have called off the reception entirely if he could.”

His mother laughed. “That certainly would have disappointed a lot of people,” she said. “You can both spend tomorrow with no one but each other,” she winked to end her statement.

“Mom!” Patton exclaimed, and she laughed again.

“I love you, sweetheart,” she said, leaning down to hug him as best she could across the table. “I am so proud of you.”

“Thanks, Mom,” Patton said, not even trying to hide the happy tears welling in his eyes. He returned the hug, ignoring the awkward position, and his mother was crying too when she pulled back.

Logan came back to the table before either of them could say anything else. “It’s official,” he said, making sure his voice was low so the two of them were the only ones who could hear. “I am ready to be done celebrating my marriage.”

“Aww, Logan,” Patton said, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek as he walked around the table and sat down. “It’s going to be midnight in a couple hours, I doubt anyone will stay past then. And we’re spending all day at home tomorrow.”

Logan gave him another smile. He could say what he wanted about being exhausted, but Patton was pretty sure he had never seen him smile this much, and he never wanted him to stop. “I cannot wait.”

…

Patton woke the next morning later than he was pretty sure he ever had in his life— it was already 8:00 when he headed to the kitchen to make breakfast. Logan was still sleeping when he left, but when he came back with two plates of eggs and toast, he was awake and looking at the William Faulkner book he’d been reading a couple days ago.

Patton was struck by how domestic the scene felt, as opposed to yesterday.

“Good morning, Starshine,” Patton said with a smile, walking over to the bed and handing Logan his plate. “Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to go out and spend another day doing nothing but partying.”

“I want a divorce,” Logan said casually, taking a bite of his eggs. Patton laughed as he sat down on the other side of the bed.

“Aww, but Hubble, then we’d waste all the money we had saved for our honeymoon,” he pointed out as he climbed under the covers and snuggled up to Logan’s side again. “And it would probably cost a lot of money for one of us to move out.”

Logan smiled back at him. “Very well, then we may remain married. But only because it’s practical.”

“Oh, of course,” Patton said, taking a bite of his toast. “I mean, we only got married for the tax benefits, anyway.”

They both lapsed into silence for a moment as they ate, and Patton smiled over at Logan, just taking in the fact that Logan was laying next to him. Maybe it shouldn’t feel very different from any other morning, but it did.

Logan seemed to pick up on his staring after a while, and turned to face him, setting his plate on his nightside table. “What?”

Patton turned and set his own plate down. “I don’t ever want to forget yesterday,” he said, his smile growing as he turned to tuck his head under Logan’s chin.

“Well, that would be difficult for the two of us,” Logan said, and Patton laughed. He had a point there.

The two of them were the only ones who knew, but he and Logan both had what they jokingly called “half of a superpower.” It had happened with their scare a couple years ago, when they got in a bad accident, and both ended up in the hospital. They had both woken up with retrograde amnesia, and the doctors were pretty sure it would be permanent.

But when Patton had been introduced to who he was told was his boyfriend, he immediately understood that Logan was someone he cared deeply for, even if he didn’t recognize him. And Logan had seemed to know who Patton was, but couldn’t connect any feeling to him. Then, the more the two of them spoke, the more Patton’s memories of Logan returned, and Logan’s feelings about Patton did the same. It had taken them both a couple months to get the hang of their new abilities, but eventually they remembered everything that they had before, plus more.

The hospital had thought it had just happened naturally, and that’s what the two of them had ended up letting them think, but in reality, Logan now had the ability to return memories via factual information, and Patton could restore the feelings connected to the memories.

All of this to mean that Logan was probably right. They probably weren’t ever going to forget their wedding day.

Patton realized he had been in thought for a while when Logan shifted to put his book on the nightside table. “Alright,” Logan said, looking at the alarm clock. “We should probably get going within the hour if we want to make it to Niagara Falls before dinner.”

“Alrighty then,” Patton said, giving Logan a quick kiss on the forehead before hopping out of the bed and picking up his breakfast dishes. He walked around the bed to pick up Logan’s own. “I’ll do the dishes while you grab our snacks for the road?”

“Sure,” Logan said, climbing out of the bed himself. “Just remember to get dressed, Patton.”

“You got it,” Patton said, beaming back at his  _ husband! _ He was going to spend a whole day with Logan, just the two of them, and then they were going to end the day with a visit to a beautiful waterfall. This was going to be amazing.


	3. Chapter 3

“I’m better than you!” Roman screamed, leaping from the couch across to the chair and tackling his brother in the process.

“Roman!” came his dad’s voice, as Patton pulled him off of Remus and back towards the couch. “That’s not a nice thing to say!”

“It’s okay, Dad, it’s a battle cry!” Remus called, throwing his hands in the air. “We’re superheroes like you and Papa!”

“Ah,” Patton said, his face fading into understanding. “Well, be careful then. I don’t want my brave heroes getting hurt.”

“Promise!” Remus called, as Roman turned back to his brother and tackled him again as he was still looking after their Dad.

Remus let out a screech and threw himself on top of Roman again as Patton hovered in the background with a concerned gaze.

No doubt about it, Roman and Remus had the coolest parents of all time. Patton, their Dad, and Logan, their Papa, both fought evil on a regular basis on top of already having regular jobs! It was so amazing how they both managed it all as well as they did. He wanted to be just like them one day.

Remus said he wanted to be a pirate.

Roman managed to finally pin Remus as Logan called from the other room that dinner was ready. Roman bounced happily off his brother and towards the kitchen, only for Remus to catch him by his ankle and yank him downwards.

“Ha!” he called, jumping up and racing off.

“Hey, no fair!” Roman called, jumping up himself and running after him, but not in time to stop Remus from getting the good chair.

“Roman, it’s okay,” Patton said, stepping up behind him. “Come sit by me.”

Roman huffed even as he moved to do so.

“So, how has school been going?” Logan asked. “Are you enjoying third grade?”

“It’s good,” Roman said, poking at the peas on his plate that he really did not want to eat. In all honesty, he kinda missed Remus being in the same class as him like they’d been until now, but there was no way he was going to admit that and let Remus tease him about it.

“Mr. Ekans is awesome,” Remus said. “He lets me draw during class as long as I’m still paying attention.”

“Aww, lucky,” Roman grumbled. “Mr. Hill just yells at me when he catches me drawing.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, bud,” Patton said.

“Yeah,” Roman agreed. “Do I have to eat the peas?”

“Yes, you have to eat the peas,” Logan said, raising an eyebrow.

Roman huffed and sunk down in his seat.

Patton rubbed his back in a way that was sympathetic but also clearly meant that Roman would still have to eat his peas, and started to talk about what had happened at the hospital that day— his regular job was being a nurse. He mostly talked about the kids, which was his favorite part of his job. Roman spent the rest of the meal sticking his tongue out at the peas that he really didn’t want to eat, and eventually eating them.

After dinner, they all watched a movie in the living room, and then Roman and Remus both took their turns complaining about going to bed before sighing and heading up to their room.

They were said goodnight to and the lights turned off before Patton and Logan both went downstairs to do much more fun grown up things.

“Roman?” Remus whispered.

“Yeah?”

“I miss having recess with you.”

Roman sighed and turned to face his brother in the bed across the room. “Yeah, me too,” he admitted. “No one else in my class is any fun. None of them like playing superheroes.”

“I know, right?! Ugh.” Remus huffed and Roman heard the small squeak of springs that must have meant Remus sat up quickly and flopped back down on his bed.

They were both quiet for a minute before Remus spoke up again, with a very different tone of voice. “Hey.”

“Oh no, what?”

“What if we make our own recess?”

Roman sat up. “You want to sneak out of class? Isn’t that against the rules?”

“Dad and Papa break rules all the time when they fight evil!” Remus exclaimed. “How is that any different?”

“Well, no one knows who they are,” Roman pointed out.

“Do you want to play superheroes or not?” Remus asked.

Roman considered the question for a moment. “Okay,” he said finally. “So when are we going to sneak out?”

…

The playground was so much more fun when there weren’t any other kids on it. It meant they could use places as bases and lookouts and battle sites and not have to worry about other kids getting in the way. Roman was playing the hero and Remus the villain, which was what normally happened. Remus said that he enjoyed playing the villain, and Roman loved being the hero, beloved by all, savior of those weaker than himself. He also loved being the one to chase and defeat Remus, because it was always fun when he won. Of course, they were much more careful about tackling each other on the gravel than they were on the carpets at home.

But that didn’t matter at all with what happened that day.

Roman was pretty sure he hadn’t ever had this much fun— it was just him and Remus in an enormous area that they could do whatever they want in, and there were no stupid teachers to tell him to stop doing what he wanted. When Roman managed to shove Remus down the slide (and after making sure he landed safely at the bottom), Roman leapt up, shoved his fist in the air, and screamed, “I’m on fire today!”

And suddenly he burst into flames.

Roman started screaming pretty much instantly, and was pretty sure he heard Remus join in with after a couple of seconds.

He wasn’t sure quite how long he was panicking for before he heard a much deeper voice cry, “Hold still!” and a spray of white foam suddenly hit him in the face. Roman didn’t even have time to register what it was before he registered that it did absolutely nothing to stop the fire.

Someone much bigger than him, definitely a grown up, started to try and pat down his shirt, but that didn’t do anything either, and after a moment, he seemed to pause.

“Hey, hey, hang on!”

Roman finally stopped screaming, though the panic didn’t go away.

He looked up to be met with the face of Mr. Ekans, Remus’ teacher, who had his hands on Roman’s shoulders. “Does it hurt?” he asked.

“I’m on fire!” Roman screamed back.

“I know, I know, just take a breath. It’s not hurting me. Is it hurting you?”

Roman was about to scream something else when he paused, because—

“…No,” he realized. “It doesn’t— I don’t feel anything.” He reached for his left arm with his right hand and ran his fingers through the very real-looking flames, but didn’t feel any heat or pain.

“Woah,” Remus whispered, coming forward from where he had climbed back up the slide and running his own palm through the fire.

“Okay, come on over here,” Mr. Ekans said, taking both Roman and Remus by the arm and pulling them down the steps of the playground equipment and further behind the school. He started wiping the white foam off of Roman’s shirt, which probably came from the fire extinguisher he’d set down. “I want you to think about the flames going away, alright?”

Roman did so, and after a minute, the flames vanished.

“Okay,” Mr. Ekans said again. “What’s your name?”

“Roman.”

“Roman, I think you have a superpower.”

“Like Dad and Papa?” Remus exclaimed.

Mr. Ekans raised an eyebrow. “Pardon?”

Remus smacked his hands over his mouth. “I shouldn’t have said that,” he whispered. “We’re not supposed to tell anyone!”

“Hey, it’s okay,” Mr. Ekans said. “I have a superpower too.”

Roman’s eyes widened. “Really?”

“Yes. I can tell when someone is lying to me, or hiding something from me.”

“Wait, is that how you always catch me cheating?” Remus whined, crossing his arms.

“Yes, so I’d suggest you stop. Based on what just happened,” Mr. Ekans said, looking back at Roman. “I would imagine your powers have something to do with illusions.”

“Woah,” Roman said. “Really?” He looked down at his palm, thought hard again, and a tiny flame appeared. Roman thought for a minute, and then the flame took the shape of Remus, changing colors to match his clothes. Roman held it out to his brother.

“Awesome,” Remus whispered, starting to grin.

“Okay, we’re going to need to call your parents to come pick you up,” Mr. Ekans said. He turned to his phone and started to mutter to himself. “And I’ll need to come with you to help explain, so I’ll get a substitute to my class before lunch is over…” He held the phone up to his ear before turning back to the two of them. “Let’s go to the office,” he whispered, holding out his hand, which Roman took. Remus grabbed Roman’s hand on the other side, and started skipping next to him as they started back towards the school.

Logan arrived at the school around twenty minutes later, and Mr. Ekans started to explain as they walked to the car, while Remus and Roman walked a couple feet behind as Roman tried to make fire in the shape of different things.

“Roman? Wait until we get home to do that, okay?” Logan called, and Roman glanced up as he let the fire fade.

“Sorry,” he said sheepishly.

“It’s alright. This is probably exciting,” Logan said. “Dad is going to meet us at home, and we’ll talk about this.”

“Uh-oh,” Roman mumbled. “Am I in trouble?”

“No, honey, you’re not in trouble,” Logan said. “Not at all. It’s just something we’re going to need to talk about.”

Patton was arriving at home at the same time that the four of them did, and they all ended up around the kitchen table, Roman making sure he stood in order to not get any of the foam from the fire extinguisher on the chair.

“So,” Patton said, clapping his hands together. “This is exciting, huh?”

“Roman can make fire appear!” Remus exclaimed, slamming his hands on the table.

“So we’ve heard,” Logan said. “Do you want to explain what happened?”

Roman immediately exchanged a glance with Remus. He didn’t  _ really _ want to tell their dads that they’d snuck outside… but he supposed Mr. Ekans had already found them there anyway. So, he slowly explained what had happened, with Remus adding bits where he felt like it that honestly didn’t make them sound too much better.

“Well, you definitely shouldn’t be sneaking outside during lunch,” Patton said, and Roman winced. “But that’s not really the main priority right now.”

“I’ll admit my experience is pretty limited,” Mr. Ekans said. “But from everything I’ve heard powers come from… bad experiences. Has Roman had a bad experience with fire before?”

Roman shook his head, followed by both of his parents and Remus doing the same. “I mean, not before today,” Roman said. “But that wasn’t really that scary once I realized it wasn’t real.”

“Hmm,” Logan said. “That definitely seems unusual.”

“Roman and Remus are our biological children,” Patton said. “Or, more specifically, they’re mine. They had a surrogate mother. Maybe Roman got his power from me.”

“That seems like it would be the most likely if Roman’s never had any bad experiences with fire,” Mr. Ekans said.

“Hang on!” Remus exclaimed. “Does this mean I’ll get a power too?!”

“Well, maybe,” Patton said, turning to Remus. He then turned to face both of them with a much more serious look on his face. “But we need to make something clear right now, okay kiddos? We don’t love Roman more because he has a power, or Remus more because he doesn’t, okay? If Remus ends up having one, that’s great! If not, that’s great too! This doesn’t change anything, alright?”

“Absolutely,” Logan said, turning to face them too. “We love both of you just as much as before this happened, alright? That is never going to change.”

Roman nodded, and Remus said, “Okay.” Roman hadn’t really been worried about that, but he was really glad they’d cleared it up, just in case Remus had been.

“So, is that all?” Roman asked. “‘Cause I kinda want to take a bath.”

Everyone seemed to take that moment to realize that Roman still had quite a bit of foam on him.

“Oh goodness, you’re right,” Patton said. “Come on, I’ll come help you get your clothes in the wash.”

“I wanna play with fire when you’re done!” Remus called, hopping up. “Meet me in our room?”

Roman nodded, as he followed Patton up the stairs, already thinking up ways he could use fire as part of their latest superhero game.

…

“Mr. Sanders?” Janus asked as Patton, Roman, and Remus all headed upstairs.

“I think after today we can agree Logan would be fine,” Logan said as he turned to face him.

“Logan,” Janus amended. “I have a suggestion, if you’d like.”

“What’s your suggestion?” Logan asked, sitting forward a little more to show that he was listening.

“Remus said something about you and Patton having powers as well, and I also have one. If you would like, I could transfer Roman to my class for this year, and help him while he’s attempting to get the hang of his. I’m not sure how well I would be able to help, since my power is not at all similar to his, but it’s probably a better idea than having him in a classroom with a teacher with no powers while he’s still learning about his.”

“That sounds like an excellent idea,” Logan said. “Remus has spoken highly of you, I’m fairly certain you’ll win Roman over without even trying.”

Janus smiled at the thought. He rather liked Remus, he was very bright and quite a source of energy in the class, and the idea that Remus liked him was a nice one. If his brother was anything like him, Janus was sure he would come to love him too.

“I’m glad to hear that,” he said. “And I’m sorry that I sprayed Roman with a fire extinguisher when it ended up not being necessary.”

Logan chuckled. “I can hardly fault you for that,” he said. “You had no way of knowing it wouldn’t be.”

Before Janus could say anything else they were interrupted by Patton coming back down the stairs. “So,” he said, sitting down. “This has been quite a day, huh?”

“Indeed it has,” Logan said, taking Patton’s hand with a nervous smile.

“We really should thank you,” Patton said, turning to face Janus. “I don’t know what we would have done if anyone else had found them.”

“Yes, it really is exceedingly lucky that someone who had a power themselves was the one to find them,” Logan said, still looking nervous. Janus supposed the nerves hadn’t worn off yet.

“Yes, I’m glad it was me,” Janus admitted. “And I’m glad that Roman isn’t hurt at all. If you’d like, feel free to keep me updated. I can’t imagine there will be any questions you can’t answer that I can, but I’ll help if I’m able to.”

Patton smiled at him. “Thank you,” he said. “We’ll make sure to do that.”

Shortly afterwards Janus stood up and said that he should get back to school, as all he’d told the office was that a student needed help getting home. So he said goodbye to Patton and Logan, called a goodbye up the stairs to Remus, and headed out to his car to head back to the school, with what was certain to be a much less interesting second half of the day.

Especially considering he hadn’t gotten to eat lunch.

…

Janus had decided very quickly that he absolutely adored the Sanders family. He’d already liked Remus, and it was no surprise when Roman had proved to be just as delightful. What Remus had in energy and opinions, Roman had in passion and ideas. And when the two of them worked together (as they did whenever Janus did group projects) he saw the potential bursting from every part of the work they came up with. He was sure they would end up being something amazing. And Janus couldn’t say he was surprised, given the parents they had.

He’d ended up at the Sanders house after school quite a bit to help Roman learn how to handle his powers. Patton and Logan both took on quite a bit of the responsibility, naturally, but juggling full time jobs with hero work (which Janus learned about after a couple weeks of getting to know them) didn’t leave much time for regular family activities plus helping with superpowers.

Janus had worried for a bit about the twins being neglected in all of this, before he saw how firmly Patton stuck to the family time they planned, and how sure Roman and Remus were that both of their parents loved them.

That didn’t stop Janus from spoiling them with whatever money he could spare, but he was frankly sure that nothing would.

Patton and Logan, it turned out, had been the superheroes Janus had heard about quite often on the news. Roman and Remus already spoke about them as though they were the coolest people in the universe, but Janus suspected they had no real idea of how famous their parents actually were. Morality, Patton’s identity, and Logic, Logan’s, were both known to have superpowers that weren’t very helpful in the field. They both had to do with memory. And yes, they did make regular trips to the hospital for anyone who had memory loss, but when it came to hero work, Patton said they had both simply trained to be very good fighters.

Janus had some background there himself. Being a friendless loser in high school was bound to attract some assholes (referenced by the scar going down the side of his face that he’d gotten late junior year), and  _ that _ was bound to teach you some fighting skills. He had already offered to help if it was ever necessary. And with that offer, he had pretty much cemented himself as a part of the family’s life permanently, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

Roman, for one, got the hang of his powers remarkably quickly— and mostly used them to play every child’s dream version of pretend with Remus, but they were both kids after all. Janus found himself on many afternoons sitting on the back patio and watching them run under the sea, or around Pride Rock, or through Snow White’s enchanted forest (they seemed to have a theme figured out). Remus didn’t end up getting a superpower, at least not yet, although he never seemed bothered, and he joked that his superpower was beating all of them every Family Game Night.

Everything about the family was wonderful, and though Janus missed seeing Roman and Remus every day after they left his third grade class, he still made an effort to be a large part of their lives— as if any of them would let him leave if he wanted to. Janus was pretty sure he wouldn’t ever ask for anything more than to be a not-so-rich aunt figure for Roman and Remus, and get to watch them grow up while being an honorary member of the Sanders family. And for a while, it seemed like things would stay that way.

Then Anxiety came into the picture.


	4. Chapter 4

“Are… are you kidding me with these superhero names?” Virgil asked, staring down at the file in front of him in bafflement.

“Why would I be kidding?” Diggory asked, from where he was perched on his ridiculous overlord chair at the other end of the table. “Morality, Logic, Deceit.”

“You know, I took the personality aspect name first. I came up with Anxiety years ago. They stole mine. And what’s with ‘Deceit?’ Who calls themself ‘Deceit,’ isn’t he supposed to be a hero?”

“Just get their attention,” Diggory said, sounding very irritated.

“Do we know their civilian identities?” Virgil asked, glancing up from the file for the first time during the conversation.

“Scott is working on it. He says something is blocking him. And I thought he couldn’t get more worthless,” Diggory said with a roll of his eyes.

Virgil winced, glad Scott wasn’t in the room for once. It hadn’t taken long to figure out why Scott, who could stop someone else from using their powers, did whatever Diggory told him to— Diggory had him wrapped around his finger. Virgil was pretty sure Scott actually believed whatever Diggory told him, about himself and everything else.

“Look, don’t cause a scene, okay?” Diggory continued, already having moved on from insulting Scott. “Don’t hurt anyone, don’t let anyone see you. If we don’t know these heroes’ identities I don’t want to risk too much.”

“You want me to get their attention but you don’t want anyone to see me?”

Diggory gave him a look. “You can figure it out. You’re a smart boy, Virgil.”

Virgil winced again. Diggory… kind of had him wrapped around his finger too.

He sighed, and gave it a second of thought. “I could wait until the janitors leave and then set the school on fire?”

“The janitors?” Diggory asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, you know, they clean mostly after school is over?”

Diggory sighed. “That works, I suppose. Just make it flashy. And obviously intended. We don’t want this going in the news as an accidental fire.”

“Right, who wouldn’t want to make themselves a suspect for arson?” Virgil muttered, too quiet for Diggory to hear. “Do I get any backup?” he asked louder.

“For what?”

“I dunno, for getting away before anyone shows up? I don’t exactly want to be pinned down to this.”

“You can handle yourself, I’m sure,” Diggory said. “Unless you are actually suggesting that my oldest recruit can’t do solo missions anymore.”

“It’s not about—” Virgil stopped before he said something stupid. “Of course I can. When do you want me doing this?”

“Tonight. The sooner we learn these people’s identities, the sooner we can find their breaking point and get them to stop with their ridiculous hero nonsense. They’re the only variable about our plan that we don’t have any knowledge or control of. And I don’t like being kept in the dark.”

Virgil flinched again. That much was true. He’d been around for one too many angry screaming sessions to not be certain of that. “I’ll start preparing,” Virgil said as he stood.

“Head down the lab,” Diggory said casually, as he pulled out his phone, upgraded quite a bit from the blackberry he’d had in high school, and started typing something out on it. “They can make you a minor explosive or something, it’ll make your job easier.”

“Thanks,” Virgil said, because it really would. That way he could stand on a nearby rooftop, wait for the heroes to show up, and do a quick introduction all without getting any potential evidence anywhere near the school. He picked up the file and tucked it to his side as he headed out of the conference room.

The lab was on the underground floors, so Virgil headed towards the elevator. He wouldn’t normally want to listen to the god-awful polka that Diggory insisted counted as music that played inside, but it was easier than walking down dozens of flights of stairs, so Virgil could stomach it for a minute or two.

He was greeted by Rosanna as the elevator doors opened. “Virgil! Sir!” She quickly stood up straight and bowed, which in Virgil’s opinion made the standing up straight rather pointless.

“Rosanna, seriously, you don’t have to bow when I’m the only one here,” Virgil said, tucking his arms around himself and trying very hard not to look anxious as he did so. “I need a grenade.”

“A grenade?” Rosanna asked, standing up and completely ignoring his first statement.

“Well, not necessarily that. Just something that can set the school on fire. You know. From a distance.”

“Ah,” Rosanna said. “Yes sir, I can get that for you. Could you give me a couple hours and check back with me?”

Virgil sighed. “Sure, Rosanna.”

“Thank you,” Rosanna said, and turned around to start back towards the lab at the end of the hallway.

“If you were going to eat lunch do that first!” Virgil called after her.

“Yes, sir!” Rosanna called in a way that clearly meant she would not be doing that first.

Virgil sighed again and turned around to step back in the elevator. If he was going on a solo mission that night he wouldn’t have anything to do until then, and he didn’t want to spend the time around other people. Virgil took the elevator up to the floor third highest. The highest floor belonged to Diggory and the floor below it belonged to Scott, and this floor was his.

It was nice, Virgil would admit it. They were close enough to the edge of the city that he could watch the sunrise from his bed if he wanted to and nothing would get in his way— also helped by the fact that he had a large window next to his bed. He had a bathroom, and a kitchen that he kept stocked enough that if he had the chance, he could spend a day in here and not have to leave. Most of the time, the disgust he felt whenever someone treated him like an authority could be overridden by how much he liked his apartment.

Today was not one of those days.

Virgil collapsed onto his bed with a groan and pulled his pillow up to his face. He gave it a couple minutes where he tried to get his mind off of the idea of burning down a school that night, but he didn’t quite get there. Eventually, he turned on the flat screen on the wall across from his bed and flipped through a couple of mindless TV shows before settling on one that he could watch without wasting any energy. He stayed there for a couple hours, until the growling of his stomach altered him that it was time to make food.

He headed to the kitchen to make a grilled cheese sandwich, and decided as he was cooking it to go check on Rosanna afterwards.

Rosanna was one of the people that Virgil was pretty sure was here out of desperation. Diggory did pay pretty well, and if you needed money, he… well, he was probably one of the worst places you could get it, but who was Virgil to judge? He was here too.

He’d never quite understood Diggory’s motives. He said what he wanted was power, and while Virgil could believe that, the man had never opened up enough that Virgil could understand where the want came from. Scott had told him about Diggory’s power, eventually, or what he knew about it. It had something to do with his father and a metal crowbar. They could both put the pieces together. The idea pissed Virgil off on a good day, and disgusted him on a bad day. After all, he’d had an awful father too, and you didn’t see him trying to take over the city.

…Okay, well he didn’t  _ want _ to.

Scott had never told Virgil about his power. He’d told him about how he met Diggory. They’d apparently been close friends since childhood, ever since Diggory stood up for Scott against some bullies. (If Virgil had a nickel for every time Scott said “Diggory wasn’t always like this” he’d be the richest man in the world.)

If Virgil honestly had to guess, he’d say Scott’s power came from Diggory. You’re bound to have to learn how to read people if your best friend was someone like him. Virgil had tried a couple times to talk with Scott about why Diggory was a bad person, but it’s not like it was easy to do when he was in the same spot.

It was hard not to listen to Diggory sometimes. He had this way to twist his arguments until you thought they made sense, for long enough that you didn’t question them before he whisked you off into another one.

Virgil finished his sandwich, put his plate in the sink, and headed for the door that led to the elevator and stairway. He let out a sigh as he stepped into the elevator again.

Too much time filled with terrible polka music later, Virgil stepped out. There wasn’t anyone in the hallway this time, so he headed down towards the lab at the end of it and swiped his key card, which unlocked the door and let him in.

“Rosanna?” he called as he pushed the door open.

Rosanna’s head popped up from behind a computer, and she quickly did her stand-up-then-bow routine. “Yes, sir. I assume you’re here for your mission?”

Virgil nodded, and Rosanna gestured towards the back of the room before heading back there herself. Virgil followed, and found himself looking at what was almost a flamethrower.

“I would put these on,” Rosanna said, pulling out a pair of gloves from a drawer and passing them to Virgil. “You know, fingerprints.”

Virgil nodded as he did so.

“It’s pretty much just a regular flamethrower,” Rosanna said. “But with a much larger distance. I also added this part here.” She tapped an extra compartment on top. “You can use it to use your power from a distance.”

“I can sort of already do that,” Virgil said as he picked up the flamethrower.

“Well, yes, but this can aim it very well,” Rosanna said. “You said your power works best if you can touch people while you’re using it, right?”

Virgil nodded.

“Well, this should help you do that from a distance. At least, if it works properly. If not, bring it back and I’ll tweak it.”

“Cool,” Virgil said, feeling out the compartment with his power. It certainly seemed like it would work the way Rosanna said it did. “Thanks, Rosanna.”

“Yes, sir,” Rosanna said. “Is that all you’ll be needing?”

Sighing inwardly at the ‘sir,’ Virgil nodded. Rosanna kept standing until he took the flamethrower and headed out of the lab. She likely went back to work after that, but for some reason seemed to think he would be upset if she didn’t wait.

Virgil, for hopefully the last time that day, got in the elevator and headed back up to his room. He kept his costume in his closet with the rest of his suits, although it definitely got washed more than them, with how often it got dirty on a mission.

He was rather proud of his costume, actually. He’d designed it himself, though Jason from security had actually made it. It was a mixture of purple and black, with stormclouds and swirls made to look like wind. Diggory had pointed out that “Stormcloud” probably would have been a better name choice, but Virgil had insisted on Anxiety. It was something of an origin story for how he’d come to join Diggory, but “Worry” or “Protectiveness” just didn’t have the same ring to it.

Virgil pulled it on and sat on his bed again to wait as the sun went down. He got a text from Intel that all of the janitors would be gone by 8:00, so Virgil decided that’s when he’d leave.

The coming hours passed very slowly, but eventually Virgil grabbed his grappling hook (in case there came a need for a fast getaway), and headed down a dozen or so floors, using the stairs this time, to get one of the many motorcycles custom-made for missions. Complete with a weapons compartment where he put the flamethrower, wheels that could drive on walls in case of a chase, and a radio, because there was no way in hell Virgil was driving anywhere without music.

The school wasn’t terribly far away, and he ended up at the building next to it, which had a roof tall enough that he could hit the school from. 

It was only after he reached the roof of that building that he realized the slight problem with this whole plan. “I really hope the rest of these buildings don’t catch on fire,” Virgil muttered, aiming the flamethrower solidly at the center of the roof of the school.

He took a breath and squeezed the trigger, which shot a very concentrated shot of fire towards the roof. Wow, Rosanna hadn’t been kidding when she said the flamethrower would be easy to aim. Virgil let the fire spread a good amount before letting go of the trigger and setting the flame thrower aside. He wasn’t sure how well that would come across as “not an accident.” He could leave the flamethrower behind afterwards.

The fire trucks arrived before any superheroes did, and Virgil waited until they got most of the fire put out before he threw the flamethrower down towards them. It landed on the grass directly in front of one firefighter, who turned and spotted Virgil immediately. He waved, turned, and fired his grappling hook across the street until it caught on the building, making sure the firefighters could still see him. That building had the good roof for stargazing, and it worked nicely to have a chat on too.

Someone must have called the heroes, because eventually the door on the other side of the roof opened, and people wearing the costumes Virgil recognized as belonging to Morality, Logic, and Deceit all walked out.

Morality’s costume was bright blue with a heart with glasses, matching Logic’s darker blue brain with glasses— apparently a sign that they were in love. Virgil wasn’t sure if they were married or not, but they had confirmed that the symbols meant they loved each other. Most people thought it was sweet. Virgil thought it was stupid.

Deceit was dressed in yellow, with a general snake theme that Virgil honestly thought was a little over the top. He had a two headed snake as his logo, which seemed ridiculously familiar in a way he hadn’t been able to place all day.

“Aww, no firefighters wanted to talk first?” Virgil asked, putting a hand on his hip and smirking under his mask, although they of course couldn’t see that. “That’s probably good. I would have left if they did.”

“Who are you?” Logic asked. “And what the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“The name’s Anxiety,” Virgil said, the smirk growing a little larger. “I take it you three are the ones my boss has been looking for.”

“Who’s your boss?” Morality asked.

Virgil chuckled. “You’re cute. You honestly think I’m going to—”

“You seem awful smug for someone who’s outnumbered three to one,” Deceit snapped, and Virgil’s entire world stopped spinning.

It was obviously older, more mature, and angrier than he’d ever heard before unless it was directed at a bully, but Virgil would know that voice  _ anywhere. _

What the hell was he doing here?

Virgil stopped himself before he did something stupid like say his name out loud, gave himself three seconds to process, and fired his grappling hook towards the alleyway below where his motorcycle was kept. He reached across the roof half a second before he flew off and erased all three of the heroes memories of the past hour. He aimed a general shot towards the firefighters too, wishing he’d actually kept Rosanna’s flamethrower, but managed to get to what he was pretty sure was all of them before he landed right next to his motorcycle. He jumped onto it and rode out the other side of the alleyway.

He was going to need a couple hours before he went home.

…

Virgil found his better stargazing spot, on top of their building, at the edge of the city with less light pollution, and promptly collapsed back against the door that led back inside. 

For some reason, his brain kept getting stuck on the two snakes. Janus, god with two faces, matched with a two headed snake.  _ You put your fucking name on your costume, you idiot. _

Virgil pressed a hand over his mouth and tried to breathe deeply through his nose.

_ You  _ idiot. _ Why would you get involved in this kind of shit? This is exactly what I tried to prevent! _

Virgil buried his hands in his hair and tried to take another breath. Well, there he goes, failing for what has to be the millionth time in his life. Virgil tugged his hair to try and get himself to focus better. It didn’t work very well.

This… this definitely created some problems. How the  _ hell _ was he supposed to bring himself to fight Janus? He’d been caught off guard this time, sure, and erasing their memories had been more of a reflex, but Janus was Janus. Even if he hadn’t even seen him in… Virgil took a minute to count. God, it had been nineteen years.

Then again, if Janus was a hero now, that probably meant that he could protect himself, at least much better than he’d been able to when they were teenagers. And having Morality and Logic on his side definitely couldn’t hurt. The three of them didn’t have any superpowers that would help in the field, but Virgil had seen videos of them in action. They were far from helpless.

But Virgil  _ had _ just erased all of their memories of himself. Morality and Logic could fix that, sure, but they wouldn’t know there was something to fix, so he couldn’t count on that. He’d likely have to fight them again, but they had no idea how big Diggory’s resources really went, and now no knowledge that they needed to try and find out. There was no telling what Diggory would have him do in between now and then, and if he found out their civilian identities…

Janus was valuable. Virgil knew this both from common sense and from eavesdropping on Diggory’s rants about how much he would have loved to get his hands on both him and Virgil at the same time. Why he hadn’t was easy enough to guess. It had to be easier to break someone down if they didn’t have any support group. A human lie detector would have been helpful, but Virgil’s power was more useful to him, and if he’d tried to get both Virgil and Janus under his thumb together, they would have figured out a way out of it.

But that didn’t change the fact that Janus was still valuable  _ now, _ and that meant— well. That meant Virgil had a job to do. Again. He’d have to check on the three heroes again, just to make sure they didn’t remember anything about being at the fire. If he was going to do his best to protect Janus he’d have to keep them in the dark, at least until he couldn’t anymore. If he could be sure they would be safe if they knew something was wrong, he might have left it, but this would be too big for them to get involved with blind, and it was probably safer to keep them out of it if he could. He could probably catch them on their way home if he started heading back now. And then…

Well, and then he had to go get beaten up by his boss.

This was going to be fun.


	5. Chapter 5

Well, this was certainly a situation Janus hadn’t ever expected to have to deal with. He’d gotten a call that morning to not come into school that day, because apparently it had been  _ burned down last night. _

He’d woken up with about the worst headache he’d had in his life, and almost immediately gotten a call that was essentially firing him (even Patton hadn’t made a pun), although he would still be getting some pay while he was looking for a new job, and Patton and Logan had assured him they would help if he needed it. So he supposed he was lucky in that regard. The surprising part was that no one had called them. The word on the street was that the fire had been set intentionally, if the flamethrower was anything to go by. Usually they were called for something like that.

Janus had tried to put it out of his mind, as he had a long day of job hunting ahead if he wanted to get anywhere before everything was snatched up, since there were a couple dozen teachers looking for jobs at the same time now.

So, Janus had taken the daily limit of painkillers, grabbed his laptop and a set of headphones, and headed to the nearest Starbucks down the street. He could spend the first half of the day putting applications out there, and the second half writing letters to the parents of the students he was never going to see again. Believe it or not, he would miss some of them.

Janus bought a double espresso (coffee may be for peasants, but he was going to need it for today) and sat down in a seat by the window.

He’d been working for about fifteen minutes when he became aware of someone standing over the table. And because approaching strangers was not a thing that was normally done in a Starbucks, he glanced over.

Standing to his right was a man who looked like he'd taken one too many beatings in a back alleyway, to the point that he barely noticed anymore. Janus had to give himself a minute to process the many bruises and cuts on his face, and what looked like a broken nose.

“Um… hello,” he said slowly. “Are… are you alright?”

“You’re, uh. You’re Janus Ekans, right?” the person asked like he already knew the answer. He sounded very nervous, although Janus wasn’t quite sure why.

Janus raised an eyebrow. “Do I know you?”

“No, you don’t,” he said, more nervous than before. “I, uh… I’ve kinda seen you around the school lately.”

Janus gave the man a suspicious look. That was a lie. A pretty huge one. And this man… he had more secrets than almost anyone Janus had ever met. What was he playing at?

“I just…” The man rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m Virgil Moore.”

“Nice to meet you,” Janus said, thinking about the opposite.

“Yeah, I just…” Virgil buried his head in his hands. “Oh god, this was a mistake. Look, I haven’t really seen you around school, okay? I just wasn’t really sure how to talk to you because I didn’t think I’d ever actually work up the courage to do this and I just— God this is embarrassing—”

Oh.

Oh, that was too adorable.

“Woah, slow down,” Janus said, starting to smile more. “Hey, it’s alright. I get it, talking to crushes can be scary.” He gestures at the seat across from him. “You want to sit?”

Virgil sat down, looking no less nervous than he had a second ago.

“So, if you didn’t see me around the school that’s been burned down,” Janus said, smirking a little and making Virgil go bright red in a way that was in fact very cute. “Where do you know me from?”

“My boss told me about you at first,” Virgil said, rubbing the back of his neck. “He’s interested in people like you.”

“People like me?” Janus asked, raising an eyebrow.

“You’re a teacher, right?”

“Yes, but that’s not particularly interesting.”

“Well, my boss is an interesting person,” Virgil mumbled. “I just… have other reasons to be interested.”

“I see,” Janus said, smiling a little wider. “Well, you seem pretty… interesting yourself.”

Virgil started blushing again, and Janus took a casual sip of his espresso. This was definitely not where he had expected the day to go. Unfortunately, it still couldn’t go how he would very much like it to.

“Well, I would absolutely love to see what else you had planned when you walked over here,” Janus said with a sigh. “But unfortunately the school I worked at did burn down last night, and I’m going to have to spend the day job hunting.”

Virgil winced. “Oh, yeah. Sorry about that.”

“Eh,” Janus shrugged. “It’s not your fault. At least no one got hurt.”

Virgil nodded uncomfortably. “Uh, yeah, at least no one got hurt,” he agreed. “Look, uh… I can do you a favor if you want.”

Janus gave him a curious look. “What kind of favor? I just met you.”

“Yeah, uh, that’s… technically true for you. I just feel bad that you have to deal with all this. Can I see your laptop for a second?”

Now, Janus didn’t normally make a habit of handing his laptop to strangers who attempt to romance him in a Starbucks, but if this morning was going to continue to improve if Virgil remained a part of it, he would take his chances. So he slid his laptop across the table and walked around to the other side so he could see what Virgil was doing. Well, it’s not like he wasn’t going to watch.

Virgil pulled up the job application that Janus had been in the process of filling out and added himself as a reference.

“Oh, do you know people?” Janus asked, raising a teasing eyebrow.

“Jamison, I do. He worked for my boss a while back. We’re on good terms. Trust me, if you decide you want the job it’s yours.”

“Ah, so you’re helping me cheat.”

“Is there any other way to get what you want out of life?” Virgil asked, leaning his chin on his hand as he looked at Janus.

“How very true,” Janus admitted, picking up the laptop and heading back over to the other side of the table. “And you’re sure of this? I’m not going to screw myself over by trusting a random person I met in a coffee shop, am I?”

“Not with this,” Virgil said, shaking his head. “You can trust me with this.”

The ‘with this’ didn’t escape Janus’ notice, but he wasn’t lying. He meant it when he said he thought Janus would get the job. And if someone as nervous as he could already tell Virgil was seemed confident about something like that… well, Janus had already filled out a half a dozen other applications anyway, and he desperately did not want to spend the rest of the day doing work. He could always do those letters to the parents after dinner… and Virgil was interesting. Nothing else about his day so far had been interesting.

Well, other than learning that the school had burned down.

“Alright,” Janus said, slipping his laptop back into his bag. “So where are you going to take me in an attempt to sweep me off my feet?”

“I know an art museum downtown,” Virgil said, pulling out his phone. “I can get directions.”

Oh, Janus was done for.

…

Virgil didn’t seem to understand Janus’ enjoyment of abstract art, but he also didn’t seem to mind. (He better not, he was the one who took them to the art museum, after all.)

They looked at some historical stuff too, and Janus made a mental note to tell Patton about it so he could take Logan here some time. Virgil took one glance at the modern art section and wrinkled his nose in disgust, which made Janus laugh and promptly put an end to any ideas of going in. They stayed there until lunchtime, when Janus mentioned knowing a diner about ten minutes away whose food wasn’t terrible. Something in Virgil’s face seemed to shift at that, but he ended up agreeing.

“Do you mind me asking again if you’re alright?” Janus asked as they both stepped out of the art museum.

Virgil gave him a curious look, and Janus nodded towards his face.

“Oh, yeah, that,” Virgil muttered. His hand hovered above his nose but didn’t touch it, which pretty much confirmed Janus’ guess that it was broken. “It was an accident.”

That… that was a lie. Did that mean someone had done this to Virgil on  _ purpose? _

Virgil seemed to realize something a second later, and he added on quickly. “It’s not a big deal. I heal quickly.”

That didn’t make it not a big deal, and now he had even more questions. But he supposed this might not have been the right time to ask. This was a rather impromptu decision after all, and he didn’t really know Virgil. If they got closer he could ask again if he really thought it was a problem.

Janus climbed in his car as Virgil got on his motorcycle (because yes, he had a motorcycle. How fucking amazing was that?) and they both headed to the diner, after Janus sent Virgil the information so he wouldn’t have to ride behind him the whole time.

Janus liked this diner in particular due to it reminding him of one he’d frequented in high school. He had never really been quite sure why the one from back then stuck with him so strongly. The food had been alright, but there was nothing spectacular about it. But something about it seemed to resonate with Virgil, too, so maybe he’d made a good decision.

Janus ordered a cheeseburger and some hot chocolate (because coffee was for peasants and he only drank it on mornings that the school burned down). Virgil got a coffee, though, so perhaps he would have to adjust his stance on such.

They talked much more casually during the lunch, and Janus found himself very much enjoying it. Definitely more than he would have if he spent the rest of the day job hunting. Virgil ended up saying he needed to go home himself when lunch was over, and Janus said goodbye to him before deciding to head over to the Sanders’ house. Patton and Logan had extended an open invitation for him to come over whenever, and Janus would very much enjoy writing letters for his students from there over his house or another Starbucks.

And maybe he could get a chance to tell them about Virgil. You know, if it came up.

…

Janus threw the door to the Sanders house open in full dramatic fashion, causing Logan and Patton to both glance over in surprise from the couch.

“I just went on a date,” Janus said with a large smile.

“What?!” Patton exclaimed, leaping up. “Ohmigosh, Janus! What happened, what happened, tell me everything!”

Janus took the chair set at an angle to the couch so he could better face the two of them, and explained everything that had happened since that morning, with both of them cutting in with a couple of questions every now and then.

“Are you sure it was wise to trust a stranger you haven’t met before to get you a job?” Logan asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Probably not, but I already got an email back about an interview, and Logan, he was  _ so cute.” _

Logan shook his head with a little smile and waved at him to continue.

“Oh my goodness, he took you to an art museum! Janus, that’s amazing! That’s like your dream first date!” Patton called, shaking his hands in front of him in excitement.

“I know!” Janus called, more than a little embarrassingly excited himself. “Things like this never happen to me, I don’t even know what to think right now!”

“I can tell,” Logan said with a smirk. “You are acting much more like Patton than you normally do.”

“Shut up, you love Patton.”

“Well, I did marry him.”

Janus finally finished explaining around the time that one of them had to leave to pick the twins up from school, so Logan left him and Patton behind to continue to gush about what had happened. They had managed to mostly calm down by the time Logan and the twins returned, only for Roman to rush up to Janus immediately.

“Logan says you fell in love!” he exclaimed, starting to jump up and down.

“That is very much  _ not _ what I said,” Logan contradicted, shutting the door behind him.

“Yeah, he said you did the thing that grown-ups do when they like each other,” Remus said, starting to grin as he bounced up to them too. “You know, where you both get naked!”

“Remus!” Patton exclaimed.

_ “That _ is very much not what I said either, where did you hear about that?” Logan asked, coming up beside Remus.

“The internet!” Remus proclaimed.

“Oh, heavens,” Logan murmured, resting a hand against his forehead.

“I  _ did,” _ Janus said, cutting Remus off before he could say anything else. “Go on a date with a very handsome fellow.” He winked at Roman for the last part of the sentence, who started beaming even wider and flapping his hands in excitement.

“That’s so wonderful!” Roman called, throwing his arms around what he could reach of Janus’ shoulders. “You deserve to fall in love with the second most handsome prince in the world!”

“Not the first?” Janus asked in slight confusion, raising an eyebrow.

“That’s you!” Roman and Patton both exclaimed at the same time, and Janus realized that was clearly something they’d practiced before. He laughed.

“I say this calls for a celebration!” Patton called. “Who wants to go out to eat tonight?”

“ME!” Roman and Remus both called at the same time.

“Alright, then go get your homework done and we’ll do that!” Patton called, and they ran for the stairs, both trying to shove their brother out of the way so they could get there first.

Patton smiled at Janus again. “Jan, that’s wonderful. I’m so happy for you.”

“I am too,” Janus said, smiling back. “I think this is going to be a good thing.”


	6. Chapter 6

Well, this was going to be a terrible thing.

Virgil already felt like a piece of shit most of the time, he didn’t really want to add guilt at deceiving his former best friend on top of that. But if he wanted to figure out how best to protect Janus, he had to learn about him, and he couldn’t use any of the regular resources without Diggory finding out. Yeah, that’s what this was about. He wanted to help Janus. (And well, you know, it was kind of nice to see him again… but it was definitely mainly about protecting him.)

He hadn’t really stopped thinking about it since he’d left after lunch at that diner that looked _way too much_ like the one they’d used to go to. He’d gone to talk to Karli afterwards since Diggory had told him he was allowed to get healed after lunch. Karli had healing powers, so she was the main doctor at the base.

Virgil asked her to leave a couple bruises that didn’t hurt as much, because fast healer or not, if he was completely healed the next time he saw Janus, that would be suspicious. Karli had seemed concerned, but ultimately agreed. She had insisted on healing his broken nose, though. Virgil didn’t really fight her on that.

Virgil turned the notebook he had bought on his way home over in his hands as he looked up at the stars. He had written down everything he’d need to do to pretend that he liked Janus. Still felt guilty about that, but there was a lot to consider. He knew a lot of things about Janus that would make pretending he cared about him very easy. But the problem was obvious. He couldn’t lie. He was sure Janus had already picked up on his countless secrets.

But Janus had also once told him that a certain amount of lying was normal. He needed to find a way to walk that line and make it seem natural.

Luckily, Virgil had gotten very good at acting since joining Diggory. He felt fairly confident he could handle this, at least for a little while. He had reached the eventual conclusion that the best way to approach Janus and be able to make immediate lies believable was “nervous crush.” Now he just had to find a way to be the right amount of natural with Janus so that lies that would still be safe could slip into the conversation without him intending them to.

Easy enough.

Diggory hadn’t given him anything to do tomorrow, either because he was still mad at Virgil for how the school had ended up going (which was unlikely, as Diggory tended to switch between emotions much more quickly than that), or he was planning something else with Scott. Whatever the reason, Scott had told Virgil not to disturb Diggory that day, meaning Virgil was free to do whatever he wanted.

He’d probably just end up hanging around here, or maybe he’d go on a drive outside the city a ways, as he didn’t want to push too much with Janus just yet. He had texted him earlier double checking if he got the job interview, though. Jamison had come through, as Virgil expected he would.

Jamison had worked for Diggory a couple years ago. He hadn’t been essential (really just meaning that he didn’t have any superpowers), so when he wanted to quit, he signed something swearing him to silence and then he was allowed to do so. Jamison had been the closest thing Virgil had to a friend in a long time. They still kept in contact every now and then.

A colder breeze blew across the roof and Virgil wrapped his hoodie tighter around him. It was probably time he went inside anyway. He stood up and headed inside, down a couple flights of stairs, and into his apartment.

He let himself wonder for a second where Janus was right now. He knew he had ties to Morality and Logic, but he had no idea who they were, or how close they all were. Were they the kind of people that Janus would tell about an impromptu date? Or was Janus lonelier than that? He really hoped not. Virgil didn’t want the end result of erasing himself from Janus’ memory to be Janus having a life as lonely as his was.

Since Virgil had nothing to do tomorrow, rather than try and go to bed he decided to go sit on one of the many things in his apartment that was definitely not meant to be sat on. He ended up on top of the fridge. The small space combined by being somewhere people don’t normally look for someone else was comforting.

He’d brought his phone with him, which is why he noticed when he got a text from Janus. Something in Virgil’s chest pinched, and he tried to ignore it as he checked what the message said.

Definitely Not Janus Fuck I Need A Good Cover Name: So today was enjoyable

Virgil: Enjoyable? What, are you embarrassed that you had fun?

Definitely Not Janus Fuck I Need A Good Cover Name: I have fun all the time, sweetheart, I don’t need you for that. Although I can certainly think of fun things we could do together.

Virgil: Geez, take me to dinner first.

Definitely Not Janus Fuck I Need A Good Cover Name: Well, that was my intent, yes.

Virgil: Oh, yeah?

Definitely Not Janus Fuck I Need A Good Cover Name: Are you free tomorrow night?

Virgil: As a matter of fact, I am. Wow, my stammering and being an absolute blushing mess paid off, huh?

Definitely Not Janus Fuck I Need A Good Cover Name: You’re much smoother over text.

Virgil: That’s how introverts roll, babe.

Virgil set his phone to the side and swallowed the lump of guilt forming in his throat. He leaned back against the wall behind the fridge and gave himself a moment to try and gather his nerves before picking up his phone again, with his breath a little more shallow.

Definitely Not Janus Fuck I Need A Good Cover Name: Can I pick you up around 7?

Virgil: I’d rather just meet you there. Is that okay?

Definitely Not Janus Fuck I Need A Good Cover Name: Of course. I’ll send you the address.

Virgil: Cool, thanks.

Definitely Not Janus Fuck I Need A Good Cover Name: I really did have a good time today.

Virgil’s breath caught and he bit his lip.

Virgil: I did too.

It wasn’t a lie. Texting hadn’t been something he and Janus did enough when they were younger for Virgil to ask if his powers worked over text. Better to be safe than sorry now, he supposed.

But he did have a good time. He was pretty sure it would have been impossible not to, when Janus had been right next to him for the first time in almost 2 decades. He wanted to see him again, too. He wished he didn’t have to pretend he was dating him to do so, but it wasn’t nearly as hard as he’d expected it to be. Both because he was so genuinely happy to be around him again and because… well, the years had been pretty kind to Janus looks-wise, although he was sure he’d gotten more than a few dickish comments about that scar on his face (Virgil didn’t even want to know where that came from).

…It was probably his fault. The whole point of leaving with Diggory had been to protect Janus, but he’d clearly failed at that in the past and was going to fail again in the present. He could never do anything right, could he?

Thankfully, Janus seemed content to leave the conversation there, and Virgil tucked himself further back against the wall to have his panic attack in peace.

“You’re fine,” he whispered, burying his head in his knees. “You’re fine, come on, you’re fine.”

He stayed there for a while until his breathing finally started to slow down, after which he scooted forward, but he didn’t end up getting down from the fridge until far too late at night. It was fine. He was used to falling asleep at ungodly hours at this point. He didn’t have anything to do tomorrow anyway, aside from now going to dinner with Janus. That didn’t mean he was going to fall asleep before 3AM, but what did at this point?

Virgil finally dragged himself from bed again at noon, and made himself some waffles that he put way too much syrup on. The nerves in his chest from last night hadn’t gone away, and it made him want to curl up in a ball under his blankets and never see the light of day again. But now he had a date with Janus that he was simultaneously longing for and dreading.

Janus had texted him the address earlier that morning, and Virgil replied saying he got it before crawling back into bed and pulling the blankets over his head to watch conspiracy theory videos for the hours left until dinner. He must have fallen asleep at one point, because he woke up to his alarm telling him that he had to leave or he would be late.

Virgil dragged himself out of bed for the second time that day, and pulled on clothes for the first time. He headed down to the garage to get the same motorcycle he’d used last time, just for consistency’s sake, and texted Janus that he was on his way there just before heading out.

The drive through the city did not help his nerves. Generally speaking loud noises were not Virgil’s favorite thing, and add rush hour on top of that and he was asking to get overwhelmed. By the time he made it to the restaurant he was already wishing he could go home.

“Virgil!”

Virgil turned around to see Janus standing in the entryway to the restaurant. Well. Maybe home wasn’t so great anyway.

“Hey,” Virgil said, climbing off the motorcycle. “You weren’t waiting long, were you?”

“Just got here,” Janus replied, holding the door open as Virgil approached. “You really do heal fast, huh? You look nice.”

“Thanks,” Virgil said, trying to brush past the fact that he’d barely paid attention to what he put on, and he had stopped focusing on his face ages ago. He smirked at Janus. “I had to make up for you somehow.”

“Ever the charmer, you are,” Janus said, smiling back.

Virgil opened his mouth to reply.

“Just the two of you?”

Virgil jumped and glanced over to see the waiter with a couple of menus.

“Yes, thank you,” Janus said, as Virgil took a moment to breathe and be grateful for the fact that Janus had answered.

“Alright, if you could follow me please?” the waiter said, starting them towards a smaller table by the window.

At least there was a window. That would help with the fact that the building somehow seemed to be getting smaller. Virgil shook himself a little before sitting down. Geez, could he pull himself together?

“Someone will be by in a few minutes to take your drink orders,” the waiter said, and Janus thanked him as Virgil nodded wordlessly.

“I think I’m just going to get water,” Janus said, more to himself than to Virgil. A second later he looked up to address him. “I would recommend one of the steaks, they’re filet mignons are why I come here. I’m paying of course, this is my date.”

“Uh-huh,” Virgil said, trying to take a deep breath and mostly succeeding. What the hell was going on, he’d had a panic attack last night, he should be good for a while!

Virgil was about to reply when a new waiter approached the table. “Good evening, do you know what you’ll be wanting to drink tonight?”

“Water!” Virgil blurted, wrapping his hands around the edge of the booth and taking another deep breath that was much less effective than the previous one.

He missed what Janus said, but eventually the waiter walked away, so he must have said something.

“Hey, are you alright?” Janus asked softly.

“I’m—” Virgil was breathing much too quickly now to get any other words out.

“Okay, come on,” Janus said, standing up and starting around the table. “We’re gonna go to the bathroom, is that okay?”

Virgil nodded, and Janus took him by the arm. The bathroom was close enough to where they were sitting that they could get there in under ten seconds. It was also single person, meaning it was mercifully empty.

“Okay, can you take a deep breath?”

“I— I—” Virgil leaned back against the wall behind him and slid down until he was sitting on the probably not-so-clean bathroom floor.

“Here, I’ll do it with you. We’re gonna breathe in for four seconds, okay?”

Virgil almost nodded, tried to match his breathing to Janus’ and managed to do so.

“Okay, now hold it for seven seconds.”

Virgil tried, and managed to make it most of the way.

“Now breathe out for eight seconds,” Janus said.

Virgil did so, and went through all the motions one more time, before his breathing returned to what was mostly normal and he dropped his head into his knees. “Sorry,” he muttered.

“You don’t need to apologize,” Janus said gently. “I know what a panic attack looks like.”

“How?” Virgil asked. He was pretty sure he’d erased all of Janus’ memories of knowing what a panic attack looked like.

“I had a couple myself in high school. I didn’t have the greatest time back then.”

“Oh god,” Virgil said, burying his head in his hands. “I’m sorry.”

“Hey, it’s alright. It isn’t your fault.”

Well, that wasn’t true, but Virgil didn’t know how to explain that without getting into the whole “I erased all of your memories of me” thing.

“Was something wrong, or was this just a bad anxiety day?” Janus asked.

“Yesterday was a bad anxiety day,” Virgil said. “But normally I just have one panic attack a week, so I thought I would be fine tonight.”

Janus narrowed his eyes in concern. “You expect to have a panic attack every week?”

“Well, yeah,” Virgil said. It was hardly the hardest part about his life, honestly. At least they were normally consistent. This wasn’t supposed to happen.

“Virgil, I don’t think that’s normal,” Janus said hesitantly.

“No shit,” Virgil muttered. He’d figured it was probably just his reaction to the fact that his life was a nightmare and he couldn’t talk to anyone about it.

Janus knelt down on the floor in front of him. “Are you okay?”

“There’s… a lot of potential answers to that question,” Virgil muttered, because it would take too long to come up with a workable half-truth.

If anything, that seemed to make Janus more concerned. “In general, are you okay?” he asked gently.

Virgil didn’t answer right away. He didn’t want to dump anything on Janus when, as far as he knew, they’d known each other for about two days. But he couldn’t outright lie or Janus would be able to tell. And he had asked.

“…No,” Virgil admitted finally. “But there’s not much I can do about it.”

“Why not?”

“Lots of reasons.” Virgil hesitated. “Lots of reasons that I don’t want to make you have to deal with.”

“It’s alright,” Janus said. “You don’t have to tell me anything, but if you want to, you can. I do like you, Virgil. And I’m not going to duck out of your life just because you’re not alright.”

“It’s not your job to help me,” Virgil said weakly.

“I know,” Janus said. “But I’d like to, if you’d let me.”

Virgil didn’t even have words to describe how badly he wanted that… or all of the countless reasons why it couldn’t happen. But right now, he didn’t want to go home yet.

“I don’t know if I’m the hugest fan of dinner dates,” Virgil murmured.

“Good, me neither,” Janus said. “They’re a boring societal standard, and I only asked you to dinner because this was the only time I had free today and I figured you’d be hungry. But if you want to get some shitty fast food and have a picnic in a cold dark empty park, that sounds so much better.”

Virgil smiled a little. “Yeah?”

Janus nodded.

“Okay,” Virgil said. “Yeah, okay, let’s do that.”

“Excellent.” Janus stood and offered a hand to Virgil, who took it.

This whole thing was definitely going to end up being terrible. Virgil was going to keep feeling guilty about the fact that he was leading Janus on, and the fact that he was dancing dangerously close to dragging Janus into what he’d tried desperately to keep him from. Eventually it was going to go down in flames. But… maybe, in the meantime, it would be good.


	7. Chapter 7

Roman had made it his job to be Janus’ fashion designer for when he went on dates. The two of them went shopping that Saturday to pick out gorgeous suits that they didn’t buy because Janus wasn’t anywhere near rich enough, nicer shirts and pants some of which he did end up buying, and a couple of skirts that made Roman’s eyes get huge when he realized Janus was serious about getting them. Janus was pretty sure Roman was more excited about the fact that he had a boyfriend that he was.

Janus couldn’t exactly pin down the reason he grew to like Virgil so quickly, especially for someone who had so many secrets that he didn’t seem ready to share. It felt like sliding into a familiar routine, which didn’t make any sense, because he’d never dated before, and he definitely would have remembered if he met someone like Virgil. He didn’t give it too much thought. He didn’t want to scare Virgil off by seeming like he cared much more than he probably should after two dates.

Besides, he had plenty of other things to do other than think about Virgil (unfortunately). He had a new job that started next week, and although it would mostly be preparing for the next school year, he wanted to make sure he was ready. He also had two honorary nephews that took up quite a bit of time even when he wasn’t dating anyone, considering one of them had a superpower.

Janus did quite a bit of babysitting for the twins (not that it could really be called such when he almost lived in the Sanders household at this point) when Logan and Patton had date nights. Tonight was one such night, and he was currently sitting on the patio as Roman and Remus were playing superheroes again— it was a favorite game of theirs for obvious reasons. Janus would have been more surprised at the two still playing games of pretend when they were going into middle school next year… if it weren’t for Roman.

Today Roman had created a city in the backyard, small enough that it couldn’t be seen over the fence but big enough that they could play their game with a decent level of ability. His illusions had gotten much more detailed over the years, and Janus could now count the windows on most of the buildings, make out tiny stoplights, and the names of some of the stores.

The two of them entertained each other very well, meaning Janus didn’t have much to do other than sit on a chair to read as he supervised.

That is, until he was interrupted by Roman pulling his book down from his face. “Uncle Janus, I need a sidekick!”

Janus smiled and set his book to the side. “Oh, yeah?”

“Hey, no! Uncle Janus is my sidekick!” Remus exclaimed, dragging Roman backwards.

“You’re the villain, villains don’t have sidekicks!”

“Yeah they do, they just call them henchmen!”

“Okay, okay, take a breath,” Janus said. “We can flip a coin.”

“Okay!” Roman called, and Remus nodded his approval as Janus pulled a quarter out of his pocket.

“Heads!” Roman called.

“I’ll take butts!” Remus agreed.

Janus rolled his eyes a little and flipped the coin, watching as it spun through the air before landing on heads.

“Yes!” Roman cried, pumping his fist in the air just before grabbing Janus’ arm and pulling him into the city. “Okay come on, Remus is robbing the bank with three hostages right now, we have to get them out and get them to safety before he kills anyone!”

Roman spun them both around as they reached an area outside a bank, and Remus was already behind them, looking ready to kill a hostage.

Janus let himself get quickly immersed in the game, and they continued playing for the rest of the evening. In the end, despite Roman and Janus’ combined efforts, Remus made one too many lucky moves and ended up towering over them both with a foot on Roman’s chest. “I win!” he called triumphantly, throwing his arms in the air.

“You did,” Janus said with a smile, as he climbed up and shooed Remus off of his brother. He was about to say something else when the honking of a horn alerted the three of them to Patton and Logan arriving home.

“Dad! Papa!” Roman called, rushing towards the house and yelling at his parents who probably couldn’t hear him yet. “Come see the city I made!”

Janus was about to follow when Remus sighed and kicked at the ground. “Hey, what’s wrong Re?” he asked, stepping forward.

“Nothing,” Remus said, sighing.

“Buddy, I wouldn’t need a superpower to know that’s a lie.”

Remus sighed again. “I don’t know… sometimes I wish I had a power too.”

“Remus, you know it’s okay that you don’t, right?” Janus said, leading Remus a little further into the illusion of the city so they could talk in private.

“Yeah, I know,” Remus said. “I know, Dad and Papa and you all love us the same. But you all have powers, and they’re so  _ cool, _ and it’s just… kinda hard not to feel left out sometimes.”

Janus could certainly understand that. All the love in the world couldn’t always stop kids from feeling left out. But he still wanted to do something to help Remus feel better. “Hey,” Janus said, kneeling down in front of him. “Do you want to sneak out tonight?”

Remus’ eyes widened as he looked up at him. “After everyone’s asleep?” he asked, already starting to grin.

Janus nodded.

_ “Awesome! _ Yeah! Where are we going?”

“You’ll have to see,” Janus said with a knowing smile. He was prevented from teasing the idea any more when Roman pulled Logan out to the backyard, with Patton close behind, to show them the city.

Remus seemed properly cheered up, and… now Janus just had to figure out a good place to take him. Coming up with half-baked plans on the fly was a bad habit of his, it seemed.

…

Remus seemed to get quite a thrill from breaking the rules, in a way that would have made Janus more concerned if he didn’t know Remus so well. He sat beaming in the passenger’s seat the whole drive.

Janus finally pulled up to a stop at their base. Remus climbed out of the car with a bit of a confused look on his face. “Why are we here?” he asked. “No offence Uncle Jan, but I thought we were going to go someplace cooler than this. I’ve been here a million times.”

“Remus, you wound me,” Janus said. “You haven’t been to the area where I’m taking you.”

Remus’ eyes widened at that. “There’s a whole other area?” he asked, shutting the car door behind him as he started towards the entrance. Janus locked the car as he followed.

“There is,” he confirmed. “And you or Roman weren’t allowed to see it until tonight.”

“Then why’d you bring just me?” Remus asked, giving Janus a curious look.

“Well, I don’t think Roman’s really ready to see this yet. It might make him nervous.” Janus unlocked the base door and ushered them both inside.

The abandoned building had been a good setup for the base. They’d gotten permission from the right people to keep using it, and now it wouldn’t be torn down. It still looked like an abandoned warehouse on the outside, but the inside was converted into a partial training session, with different equipment for exercise, sparring, and information they knew on things they were fighting at the moment.

Janus didn’t lead Remus towards any of that, however. He walked them both behind the computer and towards the door that had thus far been hidden from Roman and Remus. Remus looked like this was the most excited he’d been all day.

“This is where we have our most important information stored,” Janus said. “It’s all the information on Roman and his power.”

“You keep tabs on Roman’s power?” Remus asked in surprise.

“We do. You know why? Because powers can go crazy during adolescence. Early on in puberty, which you two are about to reach, powers have a tendency to go haywire.” Janus pushed the door open to reveal their room full of file cabinets, cork boards, and desks, with all the notes they had already on what Janus’ power had done during his early teen years. “Your Dad and Papa don’t know anything about that, because they got their powers as adults, but I got my power as a kid, so mine went haywire as a tween. That was the time of my life that I had to realize that lying wasn’t bad, because my power would tell me everyone was lying to me all the time, and I had no reason not to trust it.”

“So your power was messing up?” Remus asked.

Janus nodded. Teen angst hormones didn’t bode well with powers. It was one of his least favorite things about them. “So we have to check Roman’s power all the time, to make sure that his isn’t going wonky. But see, here’s the thing.” Janus turned to face Roman. “None of us will be able to see Roman while he’s at school all day. We won’t be able to keep tabs on him then.”

Remus’ brow furrowed. “Then how will you know if something’s wrong?”

“Well, that’s why I brought you here,” Janus said. “I think we’re going to need your help, Remus.”

Remus’ eyes widened. “You mean  _ I _ have to watch for Roman’s power?”

“I can’t think of anyone else better suited for the job. I know how much you love Roman, and I know you’ll want to keep him safe just like we do. I think we’ll be able to do a much better job if we all work together.”

“So… so we gotta protect him,” Remus said, his brow setting in determination.

“That’s right. And of course you shouldn’t do it alone, but I think you might be the best suited out of all of us.”

Remus tipped his head. “Why?”

“Because you’re the only one of us who doesn’t have powers. You’ll know when something is off with Roman because you’ll have something to compare him to.” Janus smiled. “As well as the fact that you know him so well.”

Remus started grinning. “Yeah, I do!” He nodded, and he looked even more determined. “Okay, Uncle Janus. I’ll help you watch out for Roman.”

Janus smiled a little more. “I knew we could count on you to help,” he said, pulling Remus into a hug that Remus quickly returned, just a little too tight.

“Hey Uncle Janus,” Remus said as he pulled back, grinning just a little more mischievously. “I know you really just brought me here to cheer me up.”

Janus laughed. “And that is why you’re the smartest kid I know,” he said, pulling Remus under his arm and proceeding to give him a noogie.

“Hey, let go!” Remus cried, shoving Janus off. He smiled a little more contentedly in the next second. “Uh… thanks. It worked.”

“That’s why I’m here, Re,” Janus said with another smile. “I love you very much, you know.”

“I love you too, Uncle Janus,” Remus said, giving him one more hug as they both started back for the car.

Janus was pretty sure he could call this night a success. Remus seemed to be feeling much better, at least. There were times how much Janus loved him and Roman caught him a little off guard— he hadn’t expected to ever have any kids of his own, but now he was sure he wouldn’t trade either of them for the world.


	8. Chapter 8

Virgil had decided. He hated ice skating. It was the worst abomination of all the abominations. It was awful, and falling on his butt all the time hurt, and was annoying, and the whole thing was stupid anyway. Janus of course was a goddamn figure skater.

Janus laughed again as he smiled down at him from where he had stopped effortlessly on the ice. “Need a hand?”

“Fuck off,” Virgil snapped, grabbing at the wall to pull himself up. Janus reached out a hand to help pull him up, and Virgil braced himself on the wall as he finally started standing.

He’d been surprised when Diggory still hadn’t needed him to do anything that day. He was a little concerned that it meant that Diggory was planning something bigger, but it was something he definitely didn’t have any clearance to or Diggory would tell him directly, and it freed up his day to go ice skating with Janus, whose schedule was also very empty right now due to not having any students to teach until the next school year.

“Okay, okay,” Janus said. “I can slow down for a while. Here, hold on.” He offered his hand, which Virgil took mostly to keep himself from falling onto his butt again, and held on tighter as Janus pushed them both off the wall to gain a little traction. Virgil yelped the second he couldn’t touch the wall anymore and grabbed onto Janus’ arm.

“It’s alright,” Janus said with a chuckle. “I’m not going to let you fall, Virgil.”

“Easy to make promises you can’t keep,” Virgil said, squeezing his arm tighter.

Janus laughed again, easy and bright, and Virgil took a minute to think about how he would never get tired of hearing that sound again. “That’s true,” Janus said. “But I mean this one. I’ve got you. Relax.”

Virgil took a shaky breath and tried to lessen the tension in his shoulders. He trusted Janus. Of course he did… as insane as that sounded for someone whose superpower had all to do with lies. But if you had to pick one of them who couldn’t be trusted it would definitely be him. He was the one hiding so much.

Janus was a much better skater than he was, and Virgil slowly started to breathe easier as they made a lap around and Janus’ ease helped him to get his, well, skates under him, so to speak. “See, you’re getting it,” Janus said, as they finished a second lap.

“Oh god don’t let go,” Virgil said, tugging Janus’ arm to his chest, because that was the kind of thing someone said before they let go.

“I’m not letting go,” Janus said with yet another amused chuckle that Virgil should have been getting sick of but wasn’t. “Not unless you’re alright with it.”

_ I’ll never be alright with it, _ Virgil thought, in a way that was definitely too sappy and much too close to the truth, so he didn’t say it out loud. They skated another couple laps before Virgil mumbled something about taking a break, so they headed to the snack bar and both bought some chili fries.

“So, not a fan of ice skating?” Janus asked, smiling as he ate a couple fries.

“I dunno,” Virgil mumbled, picking at his own. “The falling on my ass every three feet isn’t fun.” He paused before adding on, quietly, “The company makes it alright.”

“Aww, Virgil,” Janus said, leaning forward and kissing him on the cheek. Virgil would have frozen up, but found that he didn’t really mind. Huh. That was weird.

He was about to make some kind of sarcastic comment to get things feeling a little more normal, when Janus’ phone went off from it’s spot next to him on the table. Janus gave it a half glance and rolled his eyes.

“Boss?” Virgil asked. That was the only person he ever got texts from.

“Remus,” Janus said with a roll of his eyes. “He wants to know if you look hot.”

The comment startled a laugh out of Virgil. “What?”

“Remus is my nephew of sorts,” Janus said, his smile turning very fond. “Him and his twin brother Roman. They’re the kids of some close friends of mine, and their whole family are all absolute thorns in my side.” The remark was said in such a way as to make Virgil think they were anything but.

“Aww, look, you care about them,” he teased.

“Blasphemy.”

“You  _ love _ them.”

“Lies and slander.”

Virgil laughed, and took in the very fond look on Janus’ face as he replied to Remus. He  _ did _ love them. Virgil wasn’t going to say it didn’t sting to see how happy Janus had become without him, but mostly he was glad he wasn’t lonely. If he had this family along with some superhero partners, he had to have enough of a social life to be happy.

Janus set his phone down a second later and turned back to Virgil as he ate another couple fries. “Okay then, so are we going to keep skating or do you want to finish these and leave?”

“Save me from the ice. Save me,” Virgil said, partly because he was so done and partly because he knew it would make Janus laugh again.

And it did. “Alright,” he said, shaking his head. “We can go for a drive on your motorcycle, then.”

Virgil blinked. “Huh?”

“Take me away on your fancy bike, Virgil. I want to be the blond girl with my hair flowing in the wind holding onto the back of a muscle man.”

Virgil raised an eyebrow, even as he gave Janus a baffled smile. “You want to be what?”

“I… want to ride on a motorcycle,” Janus admitted.

“Aww, sure babe, I can drive you around on my incredibly cool motorcycle like the incredibly cool person I am.”

“Shut up. I knew exposing my vulnerabilities was a terrible idea.”

“Rookie mistake. Let’s return the skates and I’ll drive you around on my motorcycle.”

They finished the fries and returned the skates, pulling on their coats again before leaving. Virgil wasn’t quite sure why Janus wanted to ride on a motorcycle in the middle of winter, but he wasn’t going to complain as long as they weren’t ice skating.

He climbed on the motorcycle and tried not to tense up as Janus climbed on behind him and wrapped his arms around his waist. “You really should have a helmet,” Virgil said. “I’m think it might be illegal to not?”

“How sure are you?”

“First time riders wear a helmet,” Virgil passed it back and started the motorcycle as Janus put it on. He waited until Janus said he was good before driving off. Janus coming with him of course meant he couldn’t go home just yet, but he hadn’t really wanted to anyway. So instead, he drove them around the city for a while, sorely wishing he had his helmet so the wind wasn’t blowing in his face. Maybe giving it to Janus had been a bad idea.

He stopped them both at the park they’d gone to for dinner last week, and accepted the helmet Janus offered him. “Everything you ever dreamed?” he asked as he turned off the motorcycle and flipped the kickstand down.

“And more, shut up,” Janus said, climbing off before he did. “You have a special attachment to this park?”

“Well, I came here with you, and…” Virgil trailed off as he realized that he didn’t have any other good reason.

Janus snorted. “And you call me a sap.”

“Shut up,” Virgil said, whacking him on the back of the head, which only caused Janus to laugh harder.

They started walking on the path around the park, and Virgil drew his coat around him a little tighter to try and fend off the cold. He was about to make some kind of crack about the temperature when Janus pulled him to his side and wrapped the side of his coat around him. Virgil tensed for a moment as he realized what was happening, then relaxed after a second because he really didn’t want Janus to let go. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been so close to being hugged by another person. It felt… way better than he remembered. And way warmer than it probably should have, but that was probably the fact that Virgil was most certainly touch starved at this point. Regardless, he tucked himself further against Janus’ side and absorbed the warmth he gave off as they turned with the path further into the park.

“I hate winter time,” Janus mumbled.

_ I know, _ Virgil thought. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. I used to eat outside on the bleachers when I was in high school, and wintertime was the worst for obvious reasons.”

Virgil had to hold himself back from crying at that. He had kept eating outside even after he was gone? Virgil would have erased all memories of the reason why. Unless it was just those bullies that he had to deal with. The ones Virgil had abandoned him to deal with on his own. Granted, it was to save his life, but still.

“I… I did that too,” Virgil said hesitantly.

Janus turned to look at him in surprise. “Yeah?”

Virgil nodded. “Ate on the bleachers. Stopped after junior year, though.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know,” Virgil lied, because that was probably small enough that Janus could write it off, and he really didn’t lie to Janus enough. “God, I miss high school.”

“You?” Janus sounded surprised. “No offense, but you definitely don’t sound like the kind of person who peaks in high school.”

“Well, life throws you curveballs sometimes,” Virgil muttered. “It’s not so much that things were great in high school as the fact that they… really went downhill after.”

“I’m sorry,” Janus said, pulling him a little closer. Virgil wanted to wrap his arms around him and beg him to never let go again.

“It’s not all bad,” Virgil said. “You’re… good.”

“Oh,  _ I’m good?” _ Janus said, sounding amused. “Thank you Virgil, that’s the best compliment I’ve ever received.”

“Shut up,” Virgil said, nudging Janus as best he could with his elbow while it was trapped against his side. He paused. “I say that a lot.”

“I do too, you’re all good,” Janus said. Neither of them said anything else for a while, and as they walked Virgil took in the silence and the fact that Janus was there, next to him.

As much as what their relationship had turned into made him guilty, Virgil found himself relishing in it more often than not. He’d thought when he left Janus behind that it would be it. He hadn’t expected to ever see him again. And the fact that he was here, with him, didn’t hate him for everything he’d done…

Virgil drew himself short to remind himself that Janus didn’t  _ know _ everything he’d done. That Virgil was almost a stranger to him. That… that part still hurt. And if Janus did know everything he’d done, well, what then? Janus was a hero. Virgil was a villain. That put them on opposite sides of the fight. And heroes didn’t love villains. That wasn’t how life worked.

Granted, life didn’t usually involve superheroes and supervillains. But this wasn’t a rom-com. This wouldn’t end with Virgil and Janus in a small house with a white-picket fence, happily living out their days as a married couple. Not— not that Virgil wanted that anyway, of course. He was pretending to like Janus, after all. (And who actually wants a white-picket fence? Just, ew.)

The point being, this was going to end with Virgil breaking his own heart again, probably by erasing all of Janus’ memories of him for the second time in his life. That was just… the way it worked, when you’re a supervillain doing your best to tear the world apart around you.

That didn’t change his relief and contentment that this was turning out to be good in the meantime. He had of course missed Janus, after all. He had been his best friend. He hadn’t wanted to get rid of that, no matter how many times Diggory told Virgil that he was so much better off in the life he’d chosen, told him how many wonderful things they were going end up doing together and twisted both of their words around until Virgil almost believed him, sometimes. But Diggory wasn’t going to convince him to stop missing Janus. Virgil wasn’t going to let him.

“Well, I unfortunately am going to need a ride back to my car,” Janus said, and Virgil looked up to see that they had reached the area of the park they’d come in at. He tried to shake himself out of his daze.

“No, you’re walking back,” Virgil said, although he probably didn’t sound very convincing with the way he didn’t even try to move from under Janus’ arm. Janus didn’t seem to take him at all seriously either, as he laughed as they both started back across the street. He climbed on the bike again behind Virgil, and Virgil took a moment to be glad that Janus wasn’t done touching him yet before he started the motorcycle.

They made it back to the ice rink in less time due to Virgil going straight there, and he climbed off the bike when he arrived to walk Janus back to his car. “So I get to plan the next date,” he said. “You’ve gotten two in a row.”

“Oh?” Janus said, turning and leaning on his open door. “You have somewhere in mind?”

“Maybe. You’ll have to wait and see.”

“You have no ideas, do you?”

“Hey, I do!” Virgil called, smacking Janus on the arm. “It’s a  _ surprise!” _

Janus laughed. He could never do that enough. “Alright, alright. When do you have in mind?”

“Saturday,” Virgil said. One thing that hadn’t changed about Diggory— weekends were Virgil’s.

“Saturday it is,” Janus said. He was clearly about to climb into his car. Virgil stepped forward and pulled him into a hug before he could. Janus seemed surprised, but reciprocated quickly.

“Thanks,” Virgil mumbled into his coat. “For agreeing to deal with me.”

“Virgil Moore, you are an absolute delight,” Janus said instantly.

Virgil smiled a little bitterly, because he knew that Janus meant it, but there was no way that was true. “Thanks,” he said again, anyway, and he stepped back and smiled at Janus for a moment.

Janus smiled back, and then waved a little as he climbed into his car. Virgil moved to stand back on the sidewalk, and watched him as he drove away before getting back on his motorcycle and starting home himself.

It was late, not that Diggory ever cared. He was cold, though, and would probably end up taking a shower to warm him up before going to bed. And then he would spend most of tomorrow doing inventory. Diggory wanted him around base more, and therefore had him doing busy work, as if that made any difference as opposed to him going out every day. Virgil was pretty sure this was Diggory wanting Virgil to be more dependent on him. He had been right all those years ago, by the way. He did hate it. Not that there was much he could do about it.

Virgil sighed, mentally marking Saturday in his head as the next thing to look forward to. That was only a couple days away, so it would do, for now. He had a feeling Janus was going to like this date. It was frequently one of Virgil’s haunts.

Ha. Haunts. Listen to him. He was becoming a regular pun master.


	9. Chapter 9

“You actually believe in ghosts?” Janus asked. He definitely would not have pinned Virgil for that kind of person. Though he supposed he had evidence that superpowers existed. Ghosts weren’t necessarily too unbelievable at this point.

“You don’t?” Virgil asked. “Well, that’s going to make the conversation where I admit I’m a ghost pretty awkward then.”

“Ha. Okay, seriously.”

“I dunno. Crazier things have happened. That’s not really the point of us coming here, though, is it?”

Janus had to admit, after Virgil’s first date choice had been an art museum, he was not expecting his second selection to head straight to a haunted house. And apparently not the kind where people in costumes chased you with chainsaws. Virgil said quite a few people swore up and down that this was a place that was actually haunted by ghosts. So, the people who owned the house had turned it into a restaurant, and they were getting dinner there. (Look, dinner dates didn’t count as dinner dates if the restaurant was haunted, okay?)

Virgil had picked Janus up this time, since he had eventually admitted that he had enjoyed riding on his motorcycle (and sitting so close to Virgil didn’t hurt the experience either). So Virgil arrived at his house around six thirty, this time with a spare helmet, and driven them both towards the location, which is when Virgil had revealed that it was allegedly haunted.

“So, normally you have to get a reservation in advance for this place, but the owner knows my coworker Karli, and she managed to get us a table tonight,” Virgil said as they pulled up to a stop outside what very much looked like a regular house.

“Well, you just know people, huh?” Janus said, pulling off his helmet and handing it to Virgil as he put the kickstand down.

“Yep. I have connections all over the city. I don’t know if you know this, Jan, but I am a masterful networker.”

Janus snorted. “Oh, yeah, that sounds like you,” he said, as they both started for the door. Virgil pulled it open and they were met with a waiter in the entryway.

“Good evening,” he said. “What’s the name of your reservation?”

“Oh, I’m Karli’s friend,” Virgil said, and the waiter gave a nod of acknowledgement.

“Ah, okay. If you’ll follow me, there’s a table set aside for you upstairs.”

“Thanks,” Virgil said, as Janus shut the door behind them. He turned and took Virgil’s hand as the waiter led them up the steps. From there they headed over to a table near a balcony, which was likely closed due to the cold.

“Someone will be by in just a second to take your drink orders,” the waiter said, and Virgil thanked him as they both sat down.

“So I hope you’re doing better tonight than on our last dinner date,” Janus said. He made sure to keep his voice down so as to not let anyone nearby hear, but he was still a little concerned.

“I am,” Virgil confirmed with a nod. “It wasn’t the dinner date itself that bugged me so much as the fact that I was already really anxious, and the noise and people just kind of put it over the top.”

“Makes sense,” Janus said with a nod. “So where are the ghosts I’ve heard about?”

“That comes with the tour after dinner, patience,” Virgil said with a teasing smile.

“Hey, I’ve already made an exception with a dinner date, I can only hold off my disgust at following society’s standards for so long,” Janus said.

Virgil laughed, and wow, Janus would never get tired of hearing that sound. How many times could he make Virgil laugh tonight? The real answer was not enough, but he figured he could hit at least ten if he really tried.

“Hi,” came a new voice, and Janus turned to see a different waiter. “Do you know what you’ll be wanting to drink tonight?”

“Just water for me,” Janus said.

“Yeah, I’ll have water too,” Virgil agreed, and the waiter nodded before heading off again.

“So what exactly do they serve at a haunted restaurant?” Janus asked, turning back to Virgil.

“Ghost meat. It goes right through you,” Virgil responded instantly.

“Oh my god. You’re a regular Patton,” Janus said with a laugh and a shake of his head.

“I don’t know what that means.”

Janus was about to reply when his phone went off, and he sighed. “Remus, stop texting during my date,” he grumbled with no real irritation, switching his phone to silent.

“Aww, they love you too, Janus,” Virgil teased, leaning on his elbows to look across the table.

“They better after all the gifts I bought them,” Janus said. “Seriously, I’m going to spoil those children.”

“What are they like?”

“Remus and Roman?”

Virgil nodded.

“Well, they’re both very creative, in their own ways. Roman is the artist of the family, Remus writes more. His stories are… interesting. Especially for a twelve year old.”

“Interesting how?” Virgil asked.

Janus sighed. “He seems to have discovered what sex is thanks to the internet and has become insistent on learning to write the perfect smut.”

“Oh god,” Virgil said. “I am so sorry.”

Janus laughed. “Yeah, it’s about what you think twelve year old smut would be like,” he said with a laugh. “But I’m not going to try and stop him from… you know, chasing his… dreams.”

Virgil snorted.

“Remus also manages to win every single board game he ever plays,” Janus said, because he wasn’t going to pretend he wasn’t a little bitter about that. “He’s a twelve year old, and yet he beats me at chess every time.”

“Aww, your poor fragile ego.”

“Shut up,” Janus said, not at all seriously. Virgil laughed.

“And Remus is very protective of his brother,” Janus continued. “If another kid touched Roman I don’t think anyone would be able to stop him from committing murder.”

“But Roman isn’t that protective of Remus?”

“Roman has… different things to worry about,” Janus said, thinking back to Roman and his power. “But not at all in a bad way. If someone genuinely hurt Remus and he found out about it, I think he’d be just as angry.”

“Hmm, okay,” Virgil mused.

“You know, I don’t think I ever asked if you have any siblings,” Janus said.

Virgil flinched. “Me? Nope, only… only child.”

“Sorry. Touchy subject?”

“I haven’t spoken to my mom in nineteen years,” Virgil said quietly. “I don’t think she even remembers me.”

“Oh come on, I’m sure that’s not true,” Janus said, surprised and concerned that Virgil actually believed that. “You’re her son. Are you on bad terms?”

“Nonexistent terms,” Virgil muttered. “It’s fine. It’s normal at this point.”

Janus wanted to ask something else before Virgil spoke again. “What about you? You have any siblings?”

“No siblings,” Janus said. “I—”

“Hi, do we know what we’ll be wanting tonight?”

Janus and Virgil both jumped and turned to see their waiter.

“Oh goodness, I’m sorry,” Janus said, picking up his menu. “I don’t think I’ve even thought about it.”

“I can come back in a minute if you’d like?”

“I know what I want,” Virgil said. “I’ll order while you look.”

Janus nodded, looking over the menu. It seemed to be pretty typical for restaurants, with burgers, fries, steaks. He ended up ordering a burger and fries, and had just enough time to appreciate the fact the food was all labeled with ghost puns before the waiter took the menus and headed back to make their food.

“I think ‘boo-ger’ was an ill-advised choice,” Janus said. “I understand what they were going for, but if it makes me think of Remus making a joke about snot, it’s not a good call.”

Virgil laughed. “I’ve thought that every time I come here,” he said. “I almost tell them every time.”

So that was a lie, and now Janus was wondering what prompted Virgil to actually tell them at some point and what their reaction was, but he could let it go.

Their food arrived quicker than Janus expected, and despite the fact that Janus was thinking about boogers at least a little throughout the whole meal, the burger was very good.

After dinner was over they were directed over to an area at the front of a hallway where a couple other groups were waiting and told the tour would start in just a couple minutes.

“So what exactly are we supposed to be looking for on this tour?” Janus asked.

“I don’t know,” Virgil said. “Every time I come it’s different.”

“So you do see something?”

“I told you I believe in ghosts, didn’t I?”

“Technically you just asked why I don’t, but okay.”

A woman wearing a tour guide badge walked over and said hello to everyone. Janus glanced over when Virgil moved closer to his side as everyone else stepped into a closer group. He took Virgil’s hand and squeezed it, and Virgil squeezed back.

The tour guide was giving a speech about the history of the house, but she was embellishing too much for Janus to really take it seriously, and he had to bite his lip to keep from laughing a couple times. Virgil elbowed him once, although Janus could tell he was smiling too.

Eventually the tour guide started down the hallway, and their group of about fifteen total followed, the hallway narrow enough that Janus bumped into a couple other people on the way. The tour guide was still explaining about the history of the family who’d lived in the house when someone yelped in surprise. The rest of the group turned to face them, and their face grew red before they sheepishly apologized and the group continued on.

“Cold spot,” Virgil whispered to Janus. “One part of the hallway that’s colder than everything around for no reason. No one usually… screams at them, though.”

Janus laughed a little.

The group stopped a moment later when very clear talking could be heard from another room. The tour guide turned and opened the door, but there wasn’t anyone inside. The group around them started murmuring amongst each other.

“You understand this could all easily be faked, right?” Janus whispered to Virgil.

“Try and and least keep up the illusion for everyone else, would ya?” Virgil said, elbowing him.

“Well, I’m sorry, but I’ve seen ‘spookier’ things than cold drafts and voice recordings.”

“Oh, look who’s a skeptic.”

“Can’t help it. It’s in my nature. I’ve always been very good at sensing lies and fakes.”

“Why am I not surprised?”

The tour went into a couple of rooms and up another set of stairs into an attic, where they heard stomping feet that was also likely a voice recording or someone in another room. It didn’t get quieter depending on where Janus was in the room, which he supposed was a case in the ghosts favor. Then again, surround sound.

“You think this place can afford surround sound?” Virgil asked, raising an eyebrow as he leaned back against a wall.

“Irrelevant.”

Virgil chuckled a little and shook his head.

“Any other ghost things for me to debunk?” Janus asked, leaning back against the wall.

“Well, sometimes glowing orbs show up in photos—”

“Lens flares.”

“Okay. Selfie time.”

“What?”

“We’re in a dark room with not much of a chance of a lens flare, let’s take a selfie.”

Janus rolled his eyes and slid close to Virgil’s side as he took a selfie. Virgil pulled up his photos and they looked at the photo they just took, and sure enough, in the background was a faded circle that was brighter than the rest of the picture.

“There’s a million other things that could be, you know,” Janus said.

“Point for ghosts?” Virgil asked, raising an eyebrow at him and holding out his hand.

Janus sighed and shook it. “Point for ghosts.”

The rest of the tour had the same general feel. No more “unexplained” things happened, although everyone else in the tour group was jumpy and spooked, and by the time the tour ended, Janus was pretty sure he and Virgil were the only two anywhere close to laughing.

“It’s not that the idea of ghosts being real isn’t cool,” Janus said as they headed out the door. “It’s just that I’ve seen scarier things before already.”

“Oh no, I have too,” Virgil said. “I didn’t really expect you to believe in any of that stuff, I just thought it would be fun to watch you try and take it apart.”

“Rude,” Janus said, elbowing Virgil right as he was about to climb on the motorcycle. “How dare you deceive me in such a way.”

Virgil laughed as they pulled away. It was still pretty early, so they went back to what was quickly becoming their park before Virgil would take him back to his house. It was still cold, and Janus still despised wintertime, but the park now had multiple positive memories associated with it, plus the lake could potentially be a good place to skate if it ever froze enough to be safe.

“Well, I don’t know what I hate more about that idea,” Virgil said as they walked past it. “The idea of potential danger, or the idea of potential ice skating.”

Janus laughed. “How about the idea of potential dangerous ice skating?”

“Well, now you’re just trying to send me into a panic attack.”

Janus laughed again, and pulled Virgil closer to his side so they could both appreciate each other’s body heat.

Virgil had this thing about not initiating affection that Janus wasn’t quite sure about. He could certainly understand someone like Virgil having that kind of hesitation, but he didn’t know where it came from. He hoped Virgil didn’t think he’d be mad. If he was ever worried, he could just ask, after all.

“So, seriously,” Virgil said, glancing up at him. “Did you like the tour even though you didn’t think any of it was legit?”

“I did,” Janus confirmed, leaning in and kissing Virgil’s forehead, or more accurately, the bangs that always covered it. “I had a lot of fun tonight, thank you Virgil.”

Virgil’s cheeks were pink when Janus looked back again, but he was still smiling. “Well… good.”

They reached Virgil’s motorcycle not long after that, and Virgil drove him home from there. Janus gave him another kiss, on the cheek this time, as a means of goodbye, and watched Virgil drive away, mostly thinking about how he didn’t want him to leave yet.

Then again, maybe there was a solution for that.


	10. Chapter 10

See, the thing about dating someone that you care deeply about— despite the fact that it wasn’t romantic care, and that Virgil still felt guilty about that— is that you wake up hoping to hear from them. With Virgil, this was doubly as true, as Janus was quickly becoming the only bright spot in his life, so the days that he got to hear from him were automatically better than days he didn’t.

But there was a caveat to that rule, being that if Janus texted on a day that Diggory wanted Virgil doing a bunch of busy work again, it made his days automatically worse than if he hadn’t texted at all.

Bernice Ethel: I was wondering if you would like to come over for a movie night? You could stay after too if you wanted.

Virgil spotted the text in the middle of Monday morning while he was going through files for clues about the heroes identities— he already knew that he wouldn’t find anything, but that apparently wasn’t the point.

Virgil: I’m sorry, I can’t. Boss has me working tonight.

Bernice Ethel: Damn. Tomorrow?

Virgil: Probably not. There’s just a lot going on right now. Maybe Wednesday?

Bernice Ethel: That’s two whole days!

Virgil: You’ll survive

Bernice Ethel: You cannot see it, but I am sighing deeply with my hand pressed to my forehead.

Virgil: You’re ridiculous.

Bernice Ethel: Thank you. Wednesday it is.

Virgil couldn’t help the smile that came when he thought of Janus dramatically swooning at the thought of not seeing him until Wednesday. God, he loved that dork.

Well, you know. Platonically.

Maybe the caveat had some exceptions, because despite the fact that he wouldn’t be able to see Janus that day, Virgil didn’t stop smiling for the rest of the morning.

As he expected, he didn’t find any clues on the civilian identities of Morality, Logic, or Janus that morning, or after lunch when Diggory told him to keep looking.

He was tired of everything by the time he went back to his apartment for dinner. He walked past the conference room on his way to the elevator and wasn’t going to think much about that fact until he heard Scott speaking through the door.

“I don’t think Virgil will like that.”

Despite himself, he froze.

“I don’t care what Virgil thinks.” That was Diggory. Nice to have a confirmation of that. It wasn’t that he hadn’t been sure before, but hearing Diggory say it out loud was relieving in a weird way. It definitely wasn’t surprising, though.

Although it  _ was _ surprising when Scott kept talking. “I, um, I don’t think he’s ever done that before. Are you sure it’s safe?”

Oh god. What did Diggory want him to do?

“As long as he doesn’t end up dead, I couldn’t care less.”

As long as who doesn’t end up dead? Was he going to end up dead? Was someone  _ else _ going to end up dead?

“Just find the kid,” Diggory continued. “His power could be incredibly useful to us, in multiple ways.”

Virgil was pretty sure that would be the end of the conversation, so he started walking again, quickly past the conference room and into the stairwell, shutting the door silently behind him.

He headed quickly up to his apartment just in case Scott would follow him, and then collapsed just inside his door, taking a deep breath.

What the hell was Diggory going to make him do? And to what kid? And why was Scott worried about how dangerous it would be? Could someone actually get badly hurt?

Virgil pulled out his phone with shaking hands.

Virgil: Boss is making me do something I don’t want to.

Bernice Ethel: Sorry, that sucks. What do you have to do?

Virgil: I don’t know yet. I overheard him talking about it.

Bernice Ethel: Your boss talks about you behind your back?

Virgil: Is it too late for me to come over tonight?

Bernice Ethel: Of course not. Are you okay?

Virgil: I need to get away from my apartment tonight. That alright?

Bernice Ethel: Sure. You need me to pick you up?

Virgil: No, I’ll be there in twenty.

Virgil headed over to his dresser, grabbed a pair of pajamas and a change of clothes for tomorrow, and headed to his bathroom to grab his toothbrush before going down the stairwell towards the garage. He peeked through the door to make sure no one was there before opening it, and found the motorcycle he’d been using when going to see Janus. He drove out of and away from the building with no problems, mostly due to the fact that he knew where all the cameras were and could avoid them.

He made it to Janus’ house a little sooner than he’d intended to, but Janus must have been watching for him, because he opened the door as Virgil started up the sidewalk.

“Hey,” Janus said as he approached. “What’s—”

Virgil dropped his head on Janus’ chest. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled. “I’m a mess.”

“Hey, it’s alright,” Janus said, pushing the door open behind him as they both headed inside. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Virgil shook his head, although he was sure that would come across as a lie. Thankfully, Janus didn’t push him, and just sat them both down on the couch.

“Is there something you want to do right now?” he asked gently.

_ I want to find a way to get you to ask Morality and Logic to check your memory. _

“I want to cuddle on the couch and watch a movie.”

Janus smiled a little bit and picked up the TV remote, switching on the TV before opening his arms. Virgil collapsed into them and tried not to feel like he was falling apart. How could someone make something so much better and so much worse at the same time?

Virgil didn’t really end up paying too close of attention to the movie they picked, mostly just spending the hour and a half or so with his head buried in Janus’ chest and enjoying the feeling of Janus running his hands through his hair.

He thought sometimes about how this was probably closer than two people were supposed to get in a couple weeks. He was usually careful not to initiate contact, because it had been so long since he’d had to get to know Janus as a stranger that he would definitely freak him out if he tried to be as close as he wanted them to be. Granted, there was a nineteen year gap in there, and he didn’t know as much about Janus’ life as he would have if he’d been there all that time, but he definitely knew more than someone who’d known Janus for two weeks would have.

Virgil took a breath and tried to get the ball of anxiety in his chest to go away, which it had refused to do since he’d overheard Diggory.

Diggory who was going to beat him to a pulp tomorrow. God, why did he do this again?

Janus shifted slightly and pulled gently at a knot in his hair. Oh, that was why.

“I think I’m gonna fall asleep if you keep doing that,” Virgil mumbled.

“That’s okay,” Janus whispered. “I’ve got you.”

That about did it for him, and he had just enough time to tuck his head under Janus’ chin before he started to drift off.

…

Virgil hadn’t expected to make it into his apartment without running into Diggory, but he’d expected to at least make it past the entryway. The only person with him was Wyatt, Virgil’s least favorite guard, which probably wasn’t a good sign. Wyatt was usually the person who Diggory called when someone was going to have to be carried to Karli.

Why had he thought going to Janus’ last night was a good idea? Sure, he’d been panicking and worried about what Diggory was going to make him do, but that wasn’t usually a good reason to piss Diggory off. Maybe Janus was affecting him more than he wanted him to.

“Where have you been?” Diggory asked, raising an eyebrow. “I came to see you this morning and you were gone.”

“I needed milk,” Virgil said, holding up the carton of milk he’d bought as a cover story. It also made it slightly less likely for Diggory to actually beat him up just so that the milk wouldn’t spill all over the floor.

“Oh? And you didn’t run it by me?”

“It’s just grocery shopping,” Virgil muttered, shifting the milk from one hand to the other just to have something to do.

Diggory narrowed his eyes. There was a moment of silence, and then he waved Wyatt away, which was briefly comforting. “Virgil, come with me.”

That was less comforting.

Diggory led them both to the conference room. Virgil put the milk on the table to take to his apartment afterwards, and tuned hesitantly to Diggory, who hadn’t even moved to the other side of the table, which was also less than comforting. The distance between them during these meetings was usually the one thing that kept Virgil from panicking.

“Virgil, I’ve told you before how dissatisfied I am with your first performance with the heroes. I told you to get their attention and you erased their memories of you.”

“I thought we already talked about this,” Virgil said hesitantly.

“Do  _ not _ interrupt me!” Diggory snapped, slamming his hands on the table. Virgil flinched and slid back as much as he dared.

“I am going to need you to get their attention a second time,” Diggory said, straightening up again. “Soon.”

“Not now?”

Diggory narrowed his eyes. “Is there a problem?”

“Of course not. I’m just… kind of wondering what’s going on?” Virgil said hesitantly. “You don’t normally keep me out of the loop this much.”

“The only people who need to understand what’s going on right now are myself and Scott,” Diggory said, narrowing his eyes. “As he is the only other one I need for this stage of the plan. Is that a  _ problem?” _

“No,” Virgil said quickly. “No, not a problem.”

“Good. You’re going to be battling the heroes soon. That’s how we’re going to get their attention.”

“Wait, like an actual battle? I know my power is more useful in the field than theirs, but that’s still three on one.”

“Oh, you’ll have help,” Diggory said with a smile. “Scott and I are currently working on that right now.”

Virgil swallowed. That meant they were getting someone else involved. He hoped they weren’t going to force anyone. (But he knew they would.)

“Is… that all?”

“No,” Diggory said. “What I really wanted to tell you is that you picked perfect timing to go grocery shopping.”

Virgil blinked. “Huh?”

“I’m not going to need you at all for the next week or so. Feel free to do whatever you want,  _ within reason.” _

That meant no leaving the city, or moving out, or doing anything that would give him any permanent control over his own life. But still… that was more freedom than he’d had in years.

“Seriously?” Virgil asked, wondering why he was being stupid enough to question it.

Diggory smirked. “Seriously. Now get out, and go find Scott. Send him here. We have important things to do.”

Virgil nodded hurriedly, not daring to question Diggory again. He picked up his milk and left the room as quickly as possible. He was going to go find Scott, and then he was going to spend the rest of the day with Janus while he tried to work out why the fuck Diggory was letting him do this.

Should be fun.


	11. Chapter 11

“Oh my god, I cannot believe you are the kind of person who has these posters,” Virgil said.

“Excuse you, the kids love them,” Janus said, raising an eyebrow. “What kind of third grader doesn’t love a cat reading a book?”

“I don’t personally know any third graders, and yet I can name ten.”

“Liar.”

“Prove it.”

Janus shot Virgil a glare, because he technically had a way to do that, but Virgil didn’t know that, and would definitely think he was crazy if he tried to tell him.

“So are you a desk in a row kind of person, or a table kind of person?” Virgil asked before he could say something else instead.

“Table. Of course. The kids need to be able to talk to each other. Kids get antsy if they aren’t allowed to talk every now and then.”

“Oh wow,” Virgil said. “You’re one of those teachers who’s super laid back and lets kids take mental health days, aren’t you?”

“Mental health is just as important as physical health,” Janus said. “But yes, if the parents force the kid to come to school I usually let them hang out in the library corner all day and read or play on a phone.”

“God, where were you in my third grade?”

“Probably about the same age as you?” Janus pointed out, stepping back to make sure the poster was straight.

“Damn, you’re right.”

They were both silent for a while aside from putting various posters up and adjusting tables. Janus hadn’t bought any school supplies, as he was still low on funds due to not getting as much pay as before his old school burned down. He was setting aside a little in order to have enough to buy some as the beginning of the year approached.

“Hey, serious question time,” Virgil said, and Janus glanced over. “What made you decide on teaching third grade? You don’t seem at first glance like the kind of person who loves kids.”

“Well, I had a really bad teacher in third grade, and I wanted to give kids a better one,” Janus said, thinking back. Third grade had been the year his teacher hadn’t believed him about the fact that he was getting bullied. It had eventually led to his super power, but it didn’t make her any less terrible. “And third grade is usually around the time kids start learning topics like history and science. I love getting to teach those things. Well, and english of course. That will always be my favorite.”

“Okay, that’s fair,” Virgil said. “And it’s very honorable of you to try and give kids a good teacher, blah blah blah.”

Janus chuckled. “You know, I don’t think I’ve ever actually learned what you do for a living,” he said. “You talk about your boss all the time, but what do you actually do?”

“We work on plans for the city,” Virgil said. “My boss is redesigning the whole thing.”

“Oh, wow. You’re an architect?”

“Something like that.”

The phrasing caught Janus off guard for a moment, and he was about to ask a follow up question when Virgil turned to look at the other side of the room. “So where are you going to have your library corner?”

They finished the basics of decorating his room around lunchtime, after which they went to the same diner they’d gone to after their first date at the art museum. Janus spent most of the lunch trying to think of a way to bring up Virgil’s job again, because something about the way he talked about it was strange. He was pretty sure it was one of Virgil’s many, many secrets.

After lunch, they had both planned on going back to Janus’ house, when he decided to see if they could change the plans a bit. “You know,” he said casually as they stepped out of the diner. “I don’t think I’ve been to your apartment yet.”

Virgil looked like a deer caught in the headlights the next moment, and Janus quickly backtracked. “We don’t have to, I just figured you’d already been to my house, so—”

“No, it’s fine!” Virgil said. “Just… messy.”

“I don’t care about mess,” Janus said. “But if it bothers you, we can go another time.”

Virgil seemed to think about it, and after a second, he smiled. “I have another idea.”

…

“You are the luckiest person in the world.”

“I am most definitely not.”

“You  _ are, _ ” Janus insisted. “I would kill to have a place like this I could stargaze at.”

So turns out, the roof of Virgil’s apartment building was high enough and far enough from the rest of the city that you could see a fair number of stars. You could obviously see more if you were, say, out in the country, but for a regular stargazing spot, it was amazing.

“So how many constellations do you know?” Janus asked, sliding a little closer to Virgil so he could rest his head on his shoulder. They were both sitting against the door that led back inside, which made a good spot to lean against so you could look up more comfortably.

“Oh geez, uh… none?”

“Ah, well that one there,” Janus pointed to a random cluster of stars. “Is Serpentinus Francigus.”

Virgil smacked him on the arm. “Bullshit.”

“Hey, you just said you don’t know any constellations, how do you know?”

“You’re the worst,” Virgil said with a laugh.

“Oh, but Virgil, I thought you liked me!” Janus cried, putting a hand to his forehead dramatically. “I knew it! I knew it was too good to be true!”

“Shut up!” Virgil said again, although his laugh seemed less happy than it had been a second ago.

Janus turned to him in concern. “Are you alright?”

“I’m… thinking about motivation,” Virgil said quietly.

“Your motivation for dating me?” Janus asked, raising an eyebrow.

“No, not… exactly,” Virgil said hesitantly. “More general motivations. What’s forgivable, what’s not. Or how much motivation matters at all. How horrible does your action have to be before your motivation becomes irrelevant?”

Janus stared at him. “Geez, Virgil, you doing okay tonight?”

Virgil shook himself a little. “I’m sorry. I’m okay. Just… getting philosophical, I guess.”

Janus turned back to the stars and they were both quiet for a moment. “I think it depends,” he said eventually.

“On?”

“Everything. The situation, the action, the motivation. I think the worse the action, the better the motivation has to be in order to be forgiven. I don’t know, it’s hard to talk about things like this in such general terms. Do you have a specific example you’re thinking of?”

“What if someone did something awful,” Virgil said softly. “In order to save someone else’s life?”

Janus thought for a moment. “Still a lot that depends on, I think,” he said. “But… trying to save someone’s life is a pretty honorable motivation. I think it could explain a lot.”

“Explain. Not forgive?”

“I think that’s up to the person that the ‘something awful’ was done to.” Janus narrowed his eyes slightly in concern. “Why are you thinking about that, Virgil?”

“I… a long time ago, I…” Virgil hesitated, and Janus watched him. He could see the moment that Virgil put a wall back up. “Nothing.”

“Are you sure? You can—”

“It’s nothing. I’m just being selfish.”

“Hey,” Janus said gently, taking Virgil’s hand. Virgil turned to face him, looking guilty for a reason Janus couldn’t even begin to guess. “It’s alright,” he said gently. “Virgil, I am positive you are not selfish. I mean, for the record, selfishness isn’t even a bad thing—”

Virgil laughed a little in the way that meant Janus had said something he’d expected.

“—but you are most certainly not. On the first day we met you found me a job, and took me on what was essentially my ideal first date, and that was literally the first day we met.”

“Just doing stuff for you doesn’t mean I’m not selfish,” Virgil murmured. He smiled teasingly, just a little. “I just want to keep you around.”

“If anything, that’s selfish on my part,” Janus said, returning the smile. “I want to stay around.”

Virgil let out a shaky breath, and Janus saw him wipe his eyes, but he decided not to mention it. “I don’t think you understand how much that means to me,” Virgil said softly.

“I have… something of an idea,” Janus said, because he caught Virgil staring at him sometimes like he had hung the moon in the sky, and while it probably should have scared him, for some reason it… really, really didn’t.

Virgil turned to face him and yep, that was the look. He was smiling at him and looking just the slightest bit hopeful, as if Janus held the answers to all the problems in the world. It was a little much sometimes, being looked at like that. But it didn’t scare him.

“Virgil?”

“Yeah?”

“Can I kiss you?”

Virgil nodded, and Janus closed the distance between them. Virgil tasted like hope and coffee, that last part probably due to the fact that he was always drinking it. Janus wondered briefly what he tasted like before reaching up to take the side of Virgil’s face in his hands. Virgil wrapped his arms around Janus and pulled him closer.

Janus had kissed a couple people in his life before, but Virgil felt very different. Something about kissing Virgil felt like coming home after a very long day, like he got to be more like himself right now than he had been in a very long time. He didn’t know where it was coming from, but he somehow got the feeling that he had missed whatever this was without even realizing it. Which was ridiculous, because he’d never kissed Virgil before.

But by the time they pulled away he knew he wanted to kiss him again.

When he looked in Virgil’s eyes again he could already see him starting to panic about something again, and they couldn’t have that, so Janus said the first thing that came to mind.

“I want you to meet the Sanders family.”

Virgil blinked, and seemed successfully thrown off from his thoughts. “Is that Roman and Remus?”

Janus nodded. “And Patton and Logan, yes.” He looked at Virgil for another moment, and when he couldn’t gage his reaction asked, “Is that okay?”

Something in Virgil’s eyes seemed to spark, and Janus would have missed the tears welling there if they weren’t still less than a foot apart. “You want me to meet your family?”

“I mean, they’re not my blood relatives, but… yes,” Janus admitted. “I really like you, and I think they’re going to like you too. I would love it if you all met.”

Virgil smiled widely, and to Janus’ surprise, he threw his arms around him and pressed another quick kiss to his lips. “I would love that,” he murmured when he pulled away slightly. “I would love that so much.”

Janus smiled and pulled Virgil closer again, and decided that he was going to stay right here for a while.


	12. Chapter 12

Virgil hadn’t really stopped touching his lips all morning, and he wished he  _ could _ stop it already.

So. He had kissed Janus. That was a thing that had happened. Janus had asked him if he could, so there wasn’t any reason to feel guilty, right? Besides, it had been… nice. He’d expected to feel horrible if he ever actually kissed Janus, and had come up with a couple plans (that he was more than a little embarrassed about) to try and avoid doing so, but when Janus had asked he hadn’t really thought before agreeing. And it hadn’t felt anything like he’d expected it to. Janus had tasted like sunshine and dangerous hope, and it had felt like finally coming home after almost two decades of being away. For the first time Virgil had understood how someone could be nervous and excited at the same time.

But that was weird, because he was just pretending to like Janus, right? Right. No actual feelings. (So why did he kind of  _ really _ want to kiss him again? And why had he felt so happy when Janus asked him to meet the Sanders family?)

Oh, god, right. That. They had planned the date for that Friday, which was perfect timing, as it was the night before Diggory had told him that he was going to need him back for whatever he was planning and it also gave Virgil three days to prepare.

Of course, three days felt like three hours when your anxiety was as bad as Virgil’s was, but that was fine. Just meeting his fake-boyfriend/ex-best-friends closest friends and the children he seemed to care about more than anything else in the world. No big deal. Virgil was going to arrive around 7:00, which he suspected gave everyone else an hour or so to prepare. Virgil put on one of his nicest suits and sat on his bed fidgeting until 6:45, when he headed down to the motorcycle that was quickly becoming more important to him due to all the memories associated with it. It might not have been the most fantastic idea to wear a suit on a motorcycle, but hey, that’s what the invisible windshield was for. Virgil made it to the address Janus had given him at 6:55, and waited out on the motorcycle for five minutes so the people inside wouldn’t hate him for arriving too early, before heading up to the door at 7:00 exactly and knocking.

Janus answered it.

“Virgil,” he said, smiling. “You look fantastic. But you didn’t have to dress this nicely.”

“Well, these people are clearly very important to you and I want to make a good first impression,” Virgil said, fidgeting with his sleeves.

Janus laughed. “Don’t worry, you’ll win Patton and Roman over just by the fact that you make me happy.”

Virgil stifled a smile at the comment and asked, “And Logan and Remus?”

“You’ll win over Remus with your spooky vibe and Logan with how willing you are to let people talk.”

“Well it takes the pressure off of me so I don’t have to come up with something to say,” Virgil mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Don’t worry, they’ll love you,” Janus said, kissing him on the forehead as he pulled the door open and stood back to usher Virgil in.

No one was waiting immediately in the entryway, but as soon as Janus shut the front door behind them the sound of chairs sliding back from another room could be heard and two children ran out from behind a wall.

“Roman, Remus!” came a couple of calls, and Virgil was met by who must have been the honorary nephews Janus spent so much time going on about.

“Hi!” called the one wearing a red shirt as he started to bounce up and down. “I’m Roman! You’re so pretty! I can see why Janus loves you!”

“Hi, Roman,” Virgil said, doing his best to ignore the way his cheeks were definitely heating up. “Janus has told me a lot about you. He says you’re spectacular.”

Roman beamed, and before he could say anything else, the other child slammed his hands on Roman’s shoulders and shoved him downwards so he could rest his head on top of his brother’s. “I’m Remus!” he cried. “Have you and Janus had sex yet?”

“REMUS!” A new hand reached out and yanked Remus back off of Roman. “That is  _ not appropriate,” _ said someone who could only be Patton, from what Janus had told about him.

Virgil exchanged a glance with Janus to find him looking more amused than upset. He chuckled and turned to face Patton, and who must have been Logan stepping out from the kitchen. “It’s nice to meet you both,” he said, glancing between Roman and Remus, and both of them started grinning again. “As well as you both,” he said, looking up at Patton and Logan. “Janus has told me a lot about all of you.”

“Yes, it’s wonderful to meet you,” Patton said, offering his free hand which Virgil shook. He tried to ignore how familiar Patton’s voice sounded in favor of shaking Logan’s hand next. He half-noticed Janus stepped a little closer behind him and grabbing his hand to squeeze it, as if he could tell Virgil was getting nervous.

Roman and Remus both seemed satisfied with how their greetings had gone and ran back into the kitchen together, calling how they wanted to eat the stew already.

“My beef stew is their favorite meal,” Logan explained as Virgil tried to place his voice too and they all walked back into the kitchen together. “I hope you enjoy it as well.”

“I mean, Janus has been talking it up all week, so if I don’t it’s because he’s raised my expectations too much and it would be his fault.”

“Rude,” Janus said, elbowing Virgil in a very non-serious way. “It’s hardly my fault if I can’t help talking up my amazing friends.”

“It is, that would be the definition of your fault,” Virgil said, shooting a teasing glare at Janus.

“Oh lord, he found another sarcastic one,” Logan muttered, and Virgil couldn’t help the laugh that escaped.

Fortunately for Janus, he had talked up Logan’s stew just enough, because it was delicious. Virgil complimented Logan somewhere between one and seven times during the meal, just to make sure he got across that he really did like it. (And also to get Logan to keep talking because he knows his voice from  _ somewhere _ , dammit!)

Roman and Remus both went to their rooms to play after they finished their dinners, and after one last “Nice to meet you” to Virgil.

“I think they like you,” Janus said as they headed into the living room.

“Yeah? I couldn’t really tell, you describe them like they’re always that happy.”

“If Remus didn’t like you, you’d know,” Logan said with a chuckle. “And if Roman didn’t like you, you’d know because Remus would tell you that Roman doesn’t like you.”

“Ah, that’s… reassuring?”

Logan chuckled. “They both seem to like you,” he said.

“Well, that’s good then,” Virgil said, meaning it sincerely. He’d known Roman and Remus for about an hour, but if anything happened to them he wasn’t sure what he’d do.

He needed a way to get Patton and Logan to keep talking still, because their voices were seriously bugging him. Eventually when they asked what Virgil did for a living, he repeated the careful choice of wording he’d told Janus to make them think “architect,” and then returned the question to them. Logan was apparently a librarian, which Virgil could see fairly easily, and Patton was a nurse in a hospital, which—

Wait. Shit. That’s where he knew their voices from.

He was sitting in the same room with Janus, and  _ Morality and Logic. _

Virgil wanted to smack himself.  _ Of course _ they were the three heroes.  _ Of  course _ _they were._ Janus would absolutely grow close to the people he fought with on a regular basis, as well as their family. How had he not guessed that before now?

Oh,  _ fuck, _ this created so many problems. Being close to Janus was already a tremendously bad idea, but being close to  _ all three heroes? _ That was—

“Virgil?”

Virgil shook himself and glanced over to see Janus looking at him curiously. “Sorry, sorry!” he called. “Lost in thought. I’m sorry. What were you saying?”

Think about it later. Figure it out later. Just get home.

Virgil lasted another half hour before he realized if he stayed any longer, he was going to have a panic attack, and so he decided to apparently be the worst house guest ever, and say he suddenly wasn’t feeling well and had to go. Janus offered to drive him back, but Virgil declined and ran out the door much faster than was definitely polite. He drove the motorcycle half a block, found an abandoned alleyway, and leaned back against the side of a building to ride out the attack he was now in the middle of.

So he had to get away from them. There wasn’t really any other option. It wasn’t safe to be dating Janus anyway if he was Deceit, he knew that, but if he also happened to be friends with Patton and Logan who were Morality and Logic, that moved this whole thing from dangerous to lunacy. So that left only one option to keep all of them safe— he had to get away from them.

Which meant breaking up with Janus.

Virgil pressed a hand over his mouth and suppressed a sob which seemed to come out of nowhere. Why the heck was his chest hurting at that idea? Well, okay, he knew why, but it wasn’t just that he didn’t want to lose Janus again. He kept getting hung up on the  _ break up with him _ part, which didn’t make any sense. That should be the easiest part of this whole thing. It would take a guilt off his shoulders and he wouldn’t have to pretend to like Janus anymore. He wouldn’t have to see him at all. The breakup part shouldn’t be getting to him so much unless he was actually—

Oh.

Fuck.

Okay.

What a time to realize.

Virgil pushed his hand harder over his mouth to muffle his sobs. He did that for about ten seconds before he dropped his head onto his knees. “Oh, get over yourself,” he choked out to the empty alleyway. “You’ve had worse than a breakup before.”

Except it wasn’t just about that, and he knew it. Because the other part of this was still true— Janus. Janus, Janus, Janus.  _ Don’t make me leave you again. _

Virgil wrapped his arms around his middle. He had to do it now, didn’t he? Right now before he lost his nerve or he would never be able to convince himself it was the right thing to do. And he couldn’t be selfish about this, no matter how many times Janus said selfishness wasn’t bad.

Virgil climbed up, back on his motorcycle and dried his tears, heading back to the Sanders house. He made it just in time to see Janus climbing in his car. He turned in surprise when he must have heard the motorcycle.

“Virgil? Did you forget something— Virgil what’s wrong?”

Fuck, was he crying again. Virgil flipped the kickstand down and wiped at his cheek. “I, um—”

Come on, Virgil. Breathe. You have to do this.

Virgil wiped at his eyes again. “We have to break up.”

Janus didn’t say anything for a moment. Virgil couldn’t bear to look at his face, but the silence was deafening.

“What? Why?”

“I can’t tell you.”

“You’re breaking up with me but you won’t tell me why?”

“I’m sorry.”

“Virgil. Look at me.”

He did. Janus didn’t look sad, or angry. Oh, that was the determined look from the library before he left. Nineteen years and Virgil still recognized it. “Do you want to break up with me?” Janus asked.

“No,” Virgil said, because Janus would know if he lied anyway.

“Then why do we have to break up, Virgil?” Janus abandoned the car door and walked over to stand in front of Virgil.

“Because my boss doesn’t like you.”

Janus blinked, and Virgil could safely say he’d never seen him look so shocked. “What? You—” Janus narrowed his eyes. “You’re breaking up with me because  _ your boss _ doesn’t like me?”

Virgil nodded.

“Virgil, that doesn’t make any sense.”

“I know.”

“First of all, not that it matters, but you told me the first time we met that your boss is interested in people like me for whatever reason. And second, your boss doesn’t get to control who you date. If we were coworkers, maybe, but we’re not. Virgil, you—” Janus looked like he was trying to figure out what was going on. Virgil would kiss him again if he managed. “Virgil, what do you do for a living? Really?”

“I’m—” How had he phrased it again? Fuck. “You said I’m an architect, remember?”

_ “I _ said that, not you. Virgil—”

“Dammit,” Virgil whispered. He reached out for Janus’ memory and wiped the last minute and a half.

Janus grunted and reached up to clutch at his head. “Ow.”

Virgil paused. “You okay?”

“You’re breaking up with me and you’re still asking if I’m okay?” Janus hissed. “Ow, fuck—” he rubbed at the spot between his eyes. “Virgil, if you don’t want to break up with me why do we have to break up?”

“I’m sorry, I can’t tell you,” Virgil whispered. “What— what’s wrong with your head?”

“Will you forget about my fucking head?! Virgil—” Janus winced again and nearly doubled over.

Okay, that was way more concerning. This had never happened before. “Janus,” he said gently, climbing off his motorcycle.

Janus reached out and grabbed onto Virgil’s arms to hold himself upright. Virgil shut the still-open car door and leaned Janus back against it while still holding on to his arms.

“Virgil,” Janus said, opening his eyes and looking up at him, although he looked like he was in a significantly larger amount of physical pain than he had been less than a minute ago. “Please don’t leave.”

Virgil let go of Janus’ arms and took a hesitant step back. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. He climbed back on his motorcycle and flipped up the kickstand, shook off Janus’ arm when it weakly grabbed onto his sleeve and drove away before Janus could say anything. He ignored the tears pouring down his face and hoped Janus would be smart enough not to drive home with what was apparently a very sudden migraine.

Well, this night was turning out to be just awesome.

…

Virgil was greeted by Wyatt in the entryway as he walked in. “Diggory wants to see you in the conference room.”

“Why?” Virgil asked. There was a lack of emotion in his voice that didn’t really surprise him. “It’s late.”

Wyatt shrugged. “Dunno. He looked impatient. He was down here ten minutes ago, I’d hurry if I were you.”

Virgil went into the elevators and hit the button for the fourth highest floor. He checked his reflection in the warped reflective material of the doors and scrubbed at his face one more time to make sure no tears were visible. They definitely still would be, but he’d done an alright job. And it’s not like Diggory had never seen obvious signs that Virgil had been crying before.

Virgil took a deep breath to steady his emotions before he pushed open the conference room doors.

“Virgil,” Diggory said instantly, and Virgil looked up to see him. He was the only one in the room. That usually wasn’t a good sign. “About time, I was starting to get annoyed.”

“Sorry,” Virgil said softly, trying to show submission, as that would probably calm Diggory down at least a little. “Wyatt said you needed me?”

“Yes. I need you to recruit this person.” Diggory slid a file across the table, and Virgil caught it before it slid off. He sat down in the seat at that end and opened the file. Immediately alarm bells went off.

_ That’s Remus that’s Remus holy shit don’t let him know you know Remus  _ why _ is it Remus holy shit— _

Virgil looked up at Diggory. “This looks like a child.”

“That child is the source of our problem. Remus here can manipulate luck.”

Virgil raised an eyebrow. “I’m sorry?”

“His superpower is that he can manipulate luck around one or multiple people. The only problem is, he doesn’t seem to realize he has this power yet, so it’s acting without his knowledge to protect the people close to him. Obviously that’s his family. The real issue is that family happens to be Morality, Logic, and Deceit, if Scott is right, which he always is when it comes to his power. That’s why it’s been so hard to find them.”

_ “He’s a twelve year old, and yet he beats me at chess every time.” _

Holy shit.

“Diggory,” Virgil said slowly. “This is a child.”

Diggory’s eyes narrowed. “And?”

“You can’t recruit a child. He’s clearly too young to have an actual job, meaning you’d have to bring him here to stay, meaning that the family you mentioned would notice when he goes missing.”

Diggory smiled in the way that meant he’d clearly thought of this. “Why do you think you’re the one recruiting him, Virgil?”

Virgil stilled. “What does that mean?”

“Go find this child. And erase his memory. All of it. And then,” Diggory said, as Virgil struggled not to head right into another panic attack. “Erase him from everyone’s memory you deem necessary for him to be gone from.”

Virgil grabbed the side of the chair and squeezed too hard. His breath caught. “No.”

Diggory’s eyes narrowed dangerously low, and Virgil should take it back, he should  _ definitely _ take it back. “Excuse me?”

“I— no. I’m not kidnapping a child. I won’t do it.”

Diggory smiled. That was bad. That was very bad. “Very well,” he said sugar-sweetly. “I understand your position. I often find murder preferable to kidnappings too.”

“You’re going to kill him?” Virgil choked out.

“Oh, goodness no. Remus is far too valuable to kill. However,” Diggory slid another file down the table, and Virgil flipped it open. Roman.

“He does have a twin brother,” Diggory continued. “Who is far less valuable than he is. Illusions are useless, only helpful in a handful of circumstances.”

Yeah, Virgil was definitely having another panic attack.

“Since you refuse to take Remus, I’ll have to resort to other methods of crippling that family. The death of their other son should be enough to—”

“Stop!” Virgil cried. He breathed hard for a couple seconds. “Okay.”

Diggory raised an eyebrow. “Okay?”

Virgil nodded. “I’ll— I’ll get him here.”

Diggory smiled again. “Excellent. Have it done before tomorrow, Virgil. I want my own personal luck weapon by morning.”

Virgil was going to be sick.

Diggory walked down the conference table and patted Virgil casually on the cheek as he walked past him and out of the conference room. Virgil waited until his footsteps had faded to the point that he couldn’t hear them anymore.

Then he buried his head in his hands and sobbed.


	13. Chapter 13

Janus woke up in Patton and Logan’s bed with the absolute worst headache in his life. He might have experienced that three times now, but it was worse every single time, so he felt it was fair to keep reusing the phrase. He was grateful they’d let him stay last night after Virgil had… well.

He’d kind of hoped he would wake up and that would have been a bad dream, but the headache that had ended up with him taking Patton and Logan’s bed (and that had somehow lasted overnight?) had disproved that theory.

The door inched open. “Uncle Janus?” came a quiet voice. “I helped Dad make you some breakfast.”

Janus pulled his head up off the pillow and winced from the light coming in through the door. “Thanks, Roman,” he croaked. “Could you… could you go get your dad for me?”

Roman nodded and set a plate of toast down on the nightside table before heading out of the room. Patton appeared in the doorway a minute or so later.

“Patton, I am so sorry,” Janus got out. “But I think I’m sick.”

“Oh goodness,” Patton murmured, walking forward and putting a hand to Janus’ forehead. “Oh, yeah, you definitely are. Okay, I’ll ask Logan to drive Roman to school and then I’ll make you some chicken noodle soup.”

Janus took a minute to cough into his elbow. “You don’t have to do that,” he said weakly. “I was really just going to ask for a ride home.”

“Absolutely not, you’re my close friend, you’re sick, and I’m going to take care of you.”

“Patton—”

“Nope. It’s happening. Resign yourself to it.”

Janus chuckled a little. “Alright. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Patton said with a sad smile, which also confirmed that he really had been dumped last night. “Try and get some rest, okay? I’ll wake you up for lunch so you can have some soup.”

Janus nodded, rolled over, and fell back asleep. He had strange dreams about green chess pieces.

…

Janus was woken around lunchtime by Patton, who gave him the soup he’d made and headed out again. He felt a little better after he ate it, and decided to head out afterwards to see if there was anything he could help with to make up for taking up their space and their bed all day.

But when he made it to the living room, he was met with a very different scene than he’d expected, which happened to be animals. Everywhere. There were lizards on the couch and the television and mice sitting on the chair and owls whacking into the windows and a whale sitting on the coffee table.

“So clearly I’m having a fever dream,” Janus muttered to himself.

“Janus!” came Patton’s voice. He appeared from the kitchen a second later. “You’re out of bed!”

“I was feeling a little better, what the hell is happening here?”

“Well, you know how we were waiting for Roman’s power to go crazy?”

Janus looked around. “Oh god.”

“…Yeah.”

Janus headed into the kitchen, followed a second later by Patton. Roman was sitting at the kitchen table, his entire body bright green. He glanced over when they both entered. “Hey, Uncle Janus, look, I look sicker than you now,” Roman said, smiling in the way that meant he was clearly freaked out and trying to hide it.

“Yeah, look at that,” Janus said with a small smile, trying to go along with it. “So, bud, have your dads explained what’s going on?”

“Yeah. They said you’d know better but they didn’t want to wake you up, but now you’re here. Apparently this is part of puberty? I don’t think I like puberty.”

Janus gave a short laugh. “No one does, Roman. So, your powers are going to be a little wonky for a while.”

“A little?” Roman said, raising an eyebrow as a frog that wasn’t really there started to appear and jump on his head. “This is not ‘a little.’”

“Fair enough,” Janus said.

“What are we gonna do about school?” Roman asked nervously.

“Well, you won’t have anyone there to help you,” Janus said with a sigh. “So…” he glanced over at Logan, who nodded.

“We’re going to have to work something out with getting your work sent here,” Logan said. “Most likely the complete lack of control won’t last very long, right?” he asked, glancing at Janus.

“Yes. It’ll be harder to control for longer, but this particular problem shouldn’t be one you have for too long. Maybe until the end of the winter break?”

“So I have to stay home for the rest of the year?” Roman groaned. “That’s like a month! It’s gonna be so boring! I’ll have to be here all by myself.” He crossed his arms to emphasize the end of his statement.

“No, you won’t,” Janus said. “I’ll be staying here with you. I don’t have any students to teach, and by the time school starts up again your powers should be working enough again that you can go back.”

“Oh,” Roman said. “Okay, I guess that’s fine.”

“It’s gonna be just fine, kiddo,” Patton said with a smile, coming forward to ruffle Roman’s hair. This is just going to be part of growing up for you.”

“Can I stay a kid then?” Roman grumbled.

Patton laughed. “I wish, kiddo,” he said, giving him a side hug.

“For now,” Janus said, as all of the animals in the room started to shift into flying books (that had to be preferable to Logan), “How about you come watch a movie with me? I’m sure your Papa has to get back to work.”

“I do,” Logan admitted, standing. “You three will be okay? Are you sure you’re up for this?” he asked Janus.

“Well, the timing isn’t great, but I feel better than earlier,” Janus said. “In a couple of ways.”

Logan gave him a tight smile and nodded. “I’ll see you all for dinner.”

“See you then,” Patton said, walking over and giving Logan a quick kiss as he headed out of the room. Janus tried not to let it show how much his chest ached at that.

The flying books shifted into blobs of goo as the two of them headed into the living room. Janus sat on the chair so as to not be right next to Roman when he was still technically sick. Roman looked hesitantly at the giant pile of goo on the couch before he reached out his hand to poke it. As expected, his hand went through it. “I’m so glad these are just illusions,” he muttered as he sat down.

“I am with you there,” Janus said as he looked up at the goo hanging right above his head from the ceiling.

Patton joined them a second later, and they put on Frozen, which was one of Roman’s favorites. Roman’s body at least seemed to fade from its bright neon as they watched. Janus tried to focus on the movie too and ignore the urge to check his phone for texts from Virgil taking it all back.

It worked part of the time.

…

It was after Roman finally went to bed, and the illusions faded at least for the time being, that Janus was finally feeling well enough to address the other awful thing that had happened last night.

“Are you okay?” Patton asked as he sat down at the kitchen table, passing him a mug of hot chocolate, probably because he looked like he needed it.

“Well, a lot of shit just happened all at once,” Janus said with a sigh. “We knew this was coming for Roman, it’s gonna be alright. I just…” he sighed again. “I don’t understand why Virgil would break up with me if he didn’t want to.”

“It doesn’t make a lot of sense,” Logan said. “You don’t think something went wrong last night, do you?”

“No, he loved Roman, he told me so before he left. And you guys were there when we all talked, he looked like he was having fun.” Janus shook his head. “I don’t get it.”

“I don’t either,” Patton said, and Janus took a little bit of solace in the fact that they looked as sad as he felt, even if it was probably for his sake. “I hope he’s okay.”

“I hope so too,” Janus said.

“Have you heard anything else from him?” Logan asked.

“No. I tried texting him a couple times today.” Janus sighed. “Probably shouldn’t have, but I’m worried.”

“I think you’re right to be worried,” Patton said. “It’s concerning.”

Janus nodded a little.

“Janus?” Patton asked gently. Janus glanced up at him again. “You never said if you were okay.”

“I’m… going to be fine,” Janus said hesitantly. “Eventually.”

“Alright,” Patton said. He glanced at Logan for a second before turning back to face him. “You know you can stay here for another night if you want.”

“I think I’m just going to go home,” Janus said. “But thank you.”

Patton nodded, and stood up to give him a hug. Janus returned it, gave a quick wave to Logan since hugs weren’t his thing, and then headed out to his car.

His mind wandered more than was probably safe on the drive home, but he made it there. He knew he probably shouldn’t be this upset over someone he’d been dating for only about a month, but something about losing Virgil had felt like losing a childhood best friend very suddenly.

That didn’t make any sense. He supposed he’d take a page from Patton’s book this time and allow it to not make any sense. He would be fine, eventually. He wasn’t lying about that. But he didn’t understand where this had come from either. Virgil had very obviously not wanted to break up with him, so why had he? He had looked just as heartbroken as Janus felt (which he would admit only to himself). And he’d looked… scared. That had to be a trick of the light or something, right? Miserable and heartbroken, he understood, but why would Virgil be scared?

Janus pulled into his driveway and turned off the car. He just wanted to go inside and go to bed to hopefully allow himself to sleep off the rest of this sudden sickness. Maybe he’d have a text from Virgil in the morning.

He doubted it.


	14. Chapter 14

“What do you  _ mean _ you haven’t erased his memory yet?!” Diggory snapped.

“Erasing an entire person from someone’s memory takes a lot of time,” Virgil said. “Especially considering all of them knew Remus for twelve years except Janus. I didn’t have enough time to get the entire family and Remus when I’ve never done it before.  _ And _ I had to get to everyone at the school too, Diggory, that’s a lot to put on me for one night.”

Diggory sighed in irritation. “Fine, do it now, then. When will you be done? Five minutes?”

_ “No,” _ Virgil said firmly.

Diggory raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

“Diggory, the hardest person to work with last night was Roman, because so many of his memories of Remus relate to growing up. With Remus that’s going to be even harder, because I can’t just go into his head and wipe everything.”

“That is  _ exactly _ what I’m asking you to do,” Diggory growled.

“No, you—” Virgil took a deep breath.  _ Don’t piss him off. _ “This isn’t like normal amnesia, Diggory. If I just wipe every single memory Remus has, that would be getting rid of his memory of learning to walk, learning to talk, learning to eat. I  _ need _ to have  _ time _ to sift through everything and make sure I’m not getting rid of anything we absolutely  _ need him to know.” _

Diggory sighed irritably again. “Fine. How long do you think it will take?”

Virgil stared at him. “I’ve  _ never done this before.” _

Diggory groaned.  _ “Fine! _ Tell me when you’re done.”

“I will.”

Diggory nodded and turned to walk away. Virgil was about to do the same when Diggory paused and turned back around. “Tell him it was you who erased his memory if you want, but not a  _ word _ about who his family is, understand?”

“Understood,” Virgil said softly. “Diggory, I—” He hesitated.

Diggory raised an eyebrow, looking about at the end of his patience. “Yes?”

“I want Remus to stay with me,” Virgil said quickly. “In my apartment, I mean. I need to monitor for potential side effects that I can address if need be.”

“I couldn’t care less where the boy stays. He’s going to be your sidekick, he’s your responsibility already. If you want to deal with a whiny child be my guest.” With that, Diggory turned and finally stalked away.

Virgil took a breath and opened the door into Karli’s office. Remus was still sleeping on her table. Good. That would make this easier. Virgil sat down and rested a hand gently on Remus’ forehead. He had gotten much better at targeting parts of memories since he was a teenager, he was pretty sure he could do this safely.

Virgil hesitated as he thought of Janus’ face when he’d looked at Remus last night. Pretty sure wasn’t good enough. He had to know for sure what he was doing, that Remus would be safe.

Oh, he was going to get in so much trouble for this if he was caught.

“Remus?” Virgil shook his shoulder gently. “Hey, Remus. Wake up, buddy.”

Remus mumbled something and shifted, rolling over on the table and burying his head in his arms before going back to sleep.

“Hey, Remus, I need you to get up, bud. It’s Virgil.”

That seemed to get Remus’ attention, at least enough that he opened his eyes. “V’rgil?” he mumbled. He seemed to realize he wasn’t at home a second later. “Where are we?”

“We’re in my… home,” Virgil said hesitantly. “Of sorts. Remus, I have some really awful things to tell you.”

Remus gave him a curious look. “Awful? Awful how?”

Virgil sighed. He looked over at the nearby counter and grabbed the files with his and Roman’s information, and handed it to Remus as he started explaining. It took him about twenty minutes to get through it all, with Remus’ face shifting through many different emotions as he did, starting with disbelief, then moving on to understanding, then a mixture of fear and sadness, and ending on determination.

“So you’ve gotta erase my memory,” he said softly. “Or they kill Roman.”

Virgil sighed. “Yes.”

“Do it then,” Remus said, looking up at Virgil with no trace of hesitation in his gaze.

“I need to make sure I do it safely,” Virgil said. “I’m going to need your help there. Can you tell me a specific memory that sticks out really strongly?”

“Well… when Roman got his power,” Remus said, looking down at his brother’s file in his lap. “In third grade.”

“Okay, give me a minute,” Virgil said, putting his hand on Remus’ forehead again. Remus squirmed as Virgil looked, but it didn’t take Virgil a long time to find the memory Remus talked about. Virgil took a deep breath and tried pulling the parts of the memory forward that related to the experience itself and the people involved. He wiped it before pulling his hand down and looking at Remus. “Do you remember how Roman got his power?” he asked hesitantly.

Remus bit his lip and shook his head, looking nervous. “I don’t like this,” he muttered, tucking his head into his knees.

“I don’t either,” Virgil said quietly. “I’m sorry.”

They both sat there for a minute before Remus looked up at Virgil again. “Keep going,” he whispered.

“Okay, I’m gonna go slow at first,” Virgil said. “And if at any point something feels weird or painful, tell me right away, alright?”

Remus nodded. “Can you leave my memories of you?” he asked. “I want to know I can trust you.”

“I’m not sure,” Virgil admitted. “We might be too loosely connected, but I’ll try my best.” He leaned forward to put his hand on Remus’ forehead again. He did go slowly at first, and Remus still fidgeted the whole time, but he never said anything about it feeling painful or weird. Obviously erasing twelve years of memories wasn’t something he could do quickly, so it took him about an hour to sift through everything, including stopping every now and then to check and make sure he wasn’t erasing any muscle memories. By the time he finished, Remus looked very uncomfortable, and Virgil felt similarly, but he still knew how to walk and talk, so Virgil would count that as a victory given the circumstances.

He also managed to leave enough memories of him that Remus clearly still recognized him, as well as the memory of what Virgil had done to him in the first place, so Remus didn’t suddenly have no memories and no explanation as to why.

“You feeling okay?” Virgil asked as he took his hand down.

Remus shifted uncomfortably and wiped at his eyes, which Virgil decided to ignore. “I… don’t like this,” he mumbled again.

“Yeah, I know,” Virgil said, sitting next to him on the table.

Remus fidgeted with his fingers. “Can I ask something?”

“Yeah.”

“Why do these people want me?”

“You have a superpower just like I do,” Virgil said. “This person named Scott can tell when someone has a superpower, and he found you. You can manipulate people’s luck. Make it good or bad.” Virgil stood up. “We can stay here if you want, but you’re going to be staying in my apartment, so we can go back there. It’s probably more comfortable than this.”

“Do you have food there I can eat?” Remus asked.

“Yeah. What do you want?”

“I don’t know. Did you see any food allergies in my memories?”

“Nope. Not that you already know of, anyway. Do mini pizzas sound okay?”

Remus nodded.

Virgil was very much not used to having someone else in his apartment. They headed into the kitchen, and Remus sat in the only chair he had at the island. Virgil very much felt his presence as he preheated the oven and got the mini pizzas ready. He turned and leaned back against the counter as he waited for the oven to finish preheating and found Remus fidgeting with his fingers again.

Virgil opened his mouth and shut it again. He didn’t quite know what to say. This felt just as badly as he expected it to.

“How much do you know about my superpower?” Remus asked suddenly.

Virgil shifted and tucked his arms around his middle. “You can manipulate people’s luck,” he said. “Your power was… it can act without your knowledge. You can likely use it on multiple people at once. You’re going to have to train with me. And Scott, probably. He’s probably the best option of someone to train with. We’re gonna have to be fighting some people, you’ll have to use your power then, so that’ll probably happen as soon as Diggory decides you’re ready. We’re gonna have to make sure it’s safe for you before then, because he’s definitely gonna get impatient—” Virgil paused as he realized he was still talking to a twelve year old. Sure enough, when he glanced back over, Remus was staring at him with wide eyes.

“I’m gonna have to fight people?” he whispered. “What if I hurt someone?”

“I’m not going to make you hurt anyone,” Virgil said instantly. “You’re gonna be a distance fighter. Rosanna can build you a weapon that can help with that if we need one. You won’t ever have to touch anyone.”

“That doesn’t necessarily mean my power won’t hurt them,” Remus said, and damn, this kid was smart.

“I think that will be your decision,” Virgil said. “That’s where the training will come in.”

The oven beeped and Virgil turned to put the mini pizzas in.

“When does training start?”

Virgil closed the oven and turned to face Remus again. “Tomorrow,” he said. “The sooner the better. I have to tell Diggory I’m done, but it’s too late to do anything tonight.”

Remus looked down at the table, and Virgil recognized the way his breathing was starting to speed up. He took a step forward.

“Virgil?” Remus whispered. “This isn’t a good place to be, is it?”

“Hey,” Virgil reached out and put a hand on his arm. “Breathe, Remus.”

Remus took a couple deep breaths, and that seemed to work, as Virgil caught his panic early enough to calm him down.

“No one is going to hurt you,” Virgil said. “I’m going to keep you safe, okay? I promise.”

Remus blinked a couple times. “Did you erase more memories than I thought?” he asked. “I thought we barely knew each other. Why would you try so hard to protect me?”

“You’re a kid,” Virgil said. “You get priority, because you just do. And…” Virgil hesitated. “You’re also very important to someone who is very important to me.”

“Except not anymore,” Remus mumbled, looking down again.

Goddammit this kid was too smart. Virgil tried to come up with something he could say to that, but he didn’t find anything. Eventually he settled on, “That still makes you important to me.”

Remus didn’t reply to that, and neither of them said anything else until the oven went off. Virgil set the pizzas on the table and pulled out his phone to text Diggory before he forgot. Just as expected, Diggory told him that Remus would start training with Scott tomorrow.

Virgil set his phone to the side and looked back at Remus, who seemed to just be eating in silence. Virgil decided that tonight they were going to both sit on his bed and watch a movie. He wondered if Remus liked Disney.

…

So Virgil hadn’t slept on a couch in more than a decade. Diggory had built up enough resources to buy this building by the time they were 24, and the original version of Virgil’s apartment had been built by the time he was 25. He’d updated it since then, but he had been sleeping on a bed every night. But it wasn’t going to let Remus sleep on the couch, so Virgil woke up the next morning with his back killing him for the first time in a long time.

He pushed himself upright and groaned, grabbing his phone from the table to the side of the couch. He scrolled past the multiple texts from Janus that were begging to be answered to see one from Scott, telling him to meet him in the sparring room with Remus at nine. It was 8:30 now.

Virgil sighed and climbed up to make breakfast. He put four pieces of toast in his toaster and headed into the room formerly known as his bedroom. “Remus,” he called, shaking Remus’ shoulder.

Remus hissed and rolled over.

“Did… did you just hiss at me?” Virgil asked. Wow, that was something he remembered only from sleepovers with Janus a lifetime and a half ago.

“I am sleeping,” Remus grumbled, burying his head in his pillow.

“Unfortunately you have training in half an hour. I’m making you toast with butter and jam, be in the kitchen in ten minutes.”

Remus groaned, but at least he rolled over and opened his eyes, so Virgil would take it as a sign that he was going to be getting up soon. He headed back into the kitchen and took the toast out of the toaster, putting two slices on each plate. By the time he got butter and strawberry jam on all four slices, Remus was stumbling into the room half-awake.

Virgil passed him a plate which he sat down with at the island. Virgil stood on the other side and reminded himself to get another chair later that day. They both finished their toast by 8:50, but that unfortunately meant that to make it on time they’d have to take the elevator.

Remus changed into some of the clothes Virgil had brought with him yesterday, and Virgil changed into his workout clothes. Virgil grabbed the notebook he’d used to write down how to lie to Janus properly in order to make notes on Remus’ progress, and they both headed out of Virgil’s apartment and down the hall to the elevator.

Virgil hit the button for the floor with the sparring room, and then headed to his usual spot leaning against the back of the elevator. Remus copied him and looked down at the floor, until the doors slid shut and the god awful polka started playing.

Remus immediately lit up. “You guys play polka music in an elevator? Do you ever play Weird Al? He’s the best!”

“Oh god,” Virgil muttered, leaning his head back onto the wall behind him. At least Remus seemed happier than he’d been since he got here. He spent the rest of the trip down happily dancing in the middle of the elevator, until they finally opened on the floor they were heading for and he turned to face the hallway.

Virgil nudged Remus out of the elevator and led him towards the first room on the right. It opened onto a room that was composed of a sparring ring, a couple of punching bags, and a target range.

Scott was using one of the punching bags as they walked in, and turned when the door slammed shut behind them.

“Virgil,” he said. “Good morning. And you’re Remus.”

“Um. Yes,” Remus said, shifting from one foot to the other. “Are you Scott? Virgil says you’ll be helping me train.”

“That’s the plan,” Scott said with a nod. “I brought something to help with our first session.” He reached into the bag he’d brought with him and pulled out a banana peel, tossing it onto the floor. “You just learned about your power, so you’ve probably never intentionally tried to use it before. So for a first time, you’re just going to try and make Virgil slip on this banana peel.”

“Great, thanks Scott,” Virgil muttered, rolling his eyes.

“I don’t want to hurt Virgil,” Remus said instantly. “I like Virgil.”

“I’ll be fine, Remus,” Virgil said, putting a hand on his shoulder to reassure him. “I’ve had much worse than falling down.”

That apparently wasn’t of a reassurance as he thought it would be, because Remus still looked uncomfortable.

“I’ll grab a mat,” Scott said. “Virgil can fall onto that.”

Remus hesitated a second, then nodded. Scott headed off towards the back of the room where the mats were kept, and Virgil was about to follow when his phone went off in his pocket. He pulled it out and saw a text from Diggory.

That Dick: Make sure Remus is ready to fight by tomorrow.

Virgil’s eyes widened.

Virgil: Tomorrow? Are you insane?

That Dick: Careful Virgil, if I was less in tune to tone over text I would assume you were talking back to me.

Virgil: Remus just got here. He just learned he has a power yesterday. How can you expect him to learn how to use it in one day?

That Dick: Sounds like a problem for you two.

Virgil wanted to throw the phone across the room. Instead he pressed the corner against his forehead and took a deep breath.

“Virgil?”

Virgil glanced down.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Virgil said. “Don’t worry about it.”

Remus didn’t seem fond of that answer, but eventually he let it go. Scott came over and dropped the mat beside the banana peel, and Virgil walked over to tell him this new development.

“I say we see how he’s doing after lunch and go from there,” Virgil said, and Scott nodded agreement.

“Okay,” Scott said, stepping back. “So I’ll be watching to see if you’re using your power effectively, and you’re going to be trying to make Virgil slip on the banana peel as he walks past it.”

Virgil moved back slightly and started walking as Scott explain.

“Don’t be upset if you don’t get it on the first try—”

As Virgil approached the peel his foot hit it and it slid out from under him, and he landed straight on the mat.

He looked up in surprise to see Remus staring at both of them. “How’d I do?”

“Um, that was perfect. Good job,” Scott said with a slight nod. He looked about as surprised as Virgil felt.

Remus beamed. “Really?”

Scott looked down at Virgil with a thoroughly impressed look. “He used a combination of bad luck to make you slip and good luck to make you land on the mat.”

“On his first try?” Virgil asked, raising his eyebrows.

“You know, that honestly makes sense,” Scott realized, scratching the back of his neck. “I don’t know why we expected Remus to take a while to get the hang of this when part of his power is quite literally being lucky.”

“That’s… fair,” Virgil admitted.

By the time they reached their lunchtime goal Remus had mastered everything they could think of to try, and still seemed to light up whenever they told him he did well (Virgil needed to keep this child away from Diggory at all costs).

Remus had gone to the bathroom about half an hour before they planned on calling it quits for the day when Virgil brought up what he’d been thinking about to Scott. “Hey, so I’m thinking maybe we don’t bring up how well he’s doing to Diggory,” he said hesitantly.

Scott turned to stare at him. “You want to lie?”

“I know, I know, it sounds crazy,” Virgil said, because exaggerating his loyalty was a good thing when talking to Scott, “but he’s… still just a kid. And you can see how happy being good at this makes him. If Diggory knows he’s doing so well, he’ll just push him too hard, which might be counterproductive, and will also be bad for Remus’ mental health.”

For once, Scott looked like he was genuinely considering what Virgil was saying. “So in a way,” he said hesitantly. “Lying to Diggory will actually help get Remus to where he wants him to be?”

Scott gave Virgil a look that said he was not buying any of that bullshit. Virgil chuckled a little. He forgot too often how smart Scott was.

“I see your points,” he said with a sigh. “I won’t tell him anything yet other than Remus will be ready for tomorrow. And I’ll think about it, okay?”

Virgil nodded. That was probably about the best he’d get. “Okay.”

Not long after that he headed up to his apartment with Remus. He started making some spaghetti as Remus sat at the island. He got about halfway through cooking the noodles before he took a deep breath and turned to face Remus.

“Hey, Remus?”

“Yeah?” Remus asked, still looking pretty happy from the rest of the day they’d had.

“So, you did really well today. You seem to have a really good handle on all of this stuff already.”

Remus started grinning. “Really? I just kind of did all of it, and it just worked! Like, you said I can do this stuff with my power, and so I can!”

Virgil smiled weakly. “I’m really proud of you, Re. Look, I have some news buddy.”

Remus stopped smiling when he saw the look on Virgil’s face. “Oh no. What?”

“Diggory wants you to be ready to fight tomorrow.”

Remus’ eyes widened. “Tomorrow? I don’t know any fighting moves!”

“That’s why you’re going to be on a nearby roof. I’ll get Rosanna to make us earpieces and voice modulators. She can build them into our masks, and you’ll be able to do everything from a distance just like we talked about, okay? And if today is any indication, I have full confidence that you’ll be able to keep anyone from getting seriously hurt.”

“Yeah, I know,” Remus said, even though he still looked nervous. “Why do we need voice modulators though?”

“Uh… don’t worry about it,” Virgil said. He paused for a second, trying to come up with something to say that would cheer Remus up. “Hey, you know what we’re gonna do?”

Remus looked back up. “What?”

“After we have that battle, we’re gonna get ice cream on the way home and then come back here and have a Disney marathon.”

Remus smiled, just a little. “Okay, that sounds good.”

Virgil smiled a little back and turned to stir the noodles again and let his brain start to work. Keeping Remus away from the fight would be a good way to keep him safe, but he’d now have to be thinking about that and probably Janus, if he showed up. That wouldn’t be fun at all. He’d just have to hope that Remus’ power would be enough to make everything turn out mostly alright.

The fact that he was relying on the practically newly-formed power of a twelve year old he’d met two nights ago and erased the memory of yesterday could not be a good sign.


	15. Chapter 15

So Roman’s superpowers acting up wasn’t terribly fun. They spent a lot of time at home, on the couch watching Disney movies with ceiling fans and lemonade floating in the air above the TV, which was more often than not in the shape of a dinosaur. Janus’ days had started to consist of spending time with Roman, going to his new classroom to prepare for next year after Logan or Patton got home, going home and eating dinner, and going to bed. Then he would go back to the Sanders house the next morning.

He supposed, in a way, that it was good that Virgil had broken up with him when he had. He wouldn’t have been able to spend any time with him anyway. (In case you were wondering, he was aware of how insane it was that someone who could sense lies was attempting to lie to himself. He just didn’t know what else to do.)

On that particular afternoon, he was playing Monopoly with Roman. They had a long-standing game that spanned a couple months back which they continued every now and then. Janus hadn’t expected anything surprising to happen that day, but as it happened he got a call from Logan right as he was about to buy the Boardwalk.

“Yeah, what’s up?”

“There’s a supervillain on the edge of the city.”

Janus raised an eyebrow and turned in his seat. “A supervillain? Is that exaggerating?”

“Well, the two of them used luck-based superpowers to steal construction equipment and knock down an abandoned apartment building. I would call it a pair of supervillains, but one of them looks like a kid.”

Janus stood up. “Who uses a kid for something like that?”

“I don’t know. Patton and I are on our way down there, can you meet us nearby with our costumes?”

“Yeah,” Janus said. “Give me fifteen minutes.” He hung up and turned to Roman, who was looking at him in concern. Luckily he was already allowed to be at home by himself, because there was no way Janus was going to take him with him to a potentially dangerous situation. He wasn’t… well, whoever this villain was, apparently.

“Roman, are you going to be okay here for a little bit? There’s a supervillain causing some damage.”

Roman nodded. “Be careful?”

“We will.”

Patton and Logan kept all of their costumes here, mostly for convenience, as it was easy for them to grab an extra costume and meet Janus somewhere he could change quickly. This time, however, Janus grabbed all three of them and tucked them into a duffle bag before heading out to his car. Logan had texted him the location, and Janus headed that direction while breaking a couple of traffic laws. He would be breaking quite a few more if he was worried someone was hurt, but Logan had said the apartment building was abandoned, so the situation wasn’t as dire.

He reached their agreed meeting point and found Logan and Patton standing in an empty alleyway nearby. He pulled to a stop just outside it, opened the duffle bag and pulled his costume out before tossing it to Logan and starting to pull on the costume over his clothes. They were all used to changing quickly for situations like this, and ten seconds later they were all headed for the building a block or so away.

“So what’s with the kid?” Janus asked as they ran. “Do we have a hostage situation?”

“When they called us in they said he was acting of his own free will,” Logan said. “He was wearing a costume too, and no one was threatening him.”

“I don’t know,” Patton said hesitantly. “He’s still a kid, isn’t he?”

“That’s what I’m thinking,” Janus muttered.

It didn’t end up mattering anyway however, because when they made it to the building, the aforementioned kid was nowhere in sight. There was just someone in a purple costume leaning casually against a mostly collapsed wall.

“About time,” he said. “I would think superheroes would be able to get here a little faster.”

“What the hell are you trying to accomplish?” Logan snapped. “You drove half an hour on _construction equipment_ to get here, clearly this building was intentional.”

“Oh, well what’s the point of making an entrance if it’s not noticeable?” the person said. “I’m Anxiety, it’s a pleasure.”

Janus could hear the smirk in Anxiety’s voice, and it made the idea of punching him very enjoyable. “I can’t say the feeling is mutual,” he said. “If your intention is just to make an entrance there are much more visible ways to do it, you know.”

“Oh, but this way pisses you off more,” Anxiety said. “Calm down, would you? I didn’t even hurt anyone.”

“What exactly do you want?” Patton asked, stepping forward.

“Short term? I’ve just accomplished it. Long term? I just want to fight.”

Lie.

Lie?

_…Intentional_ lie. What in the world did that mean?

Janus took a minute to analyze Anxiety, and wasn’t surprised to find that he had more secrets than Virgil. But unlike Virgil, he couldn’t attribute them to something harmless, like anxiety.

Well, that was the worst kind of unintentional pun.

Okay so what did Anxiety _want_ if he didn’t want to fight?

“You’re lying,” Janus said, stepping forward slightly. Patton and Logan both looked at him in surprise.

Anxiety said nothing for a brief second. “I’m sorry?” he asked in what was obviously faked confusion.

“You’re lying. You don’t want to fight? Then why are you here?”

“I’m sorry, how do you know that exactly? It’s not like you can tell.”

That was a lie too. He already knew what his power was? That couldn’t be a good sign.

“You really do lie quite a bit, don’t you?” Janus said, as Patton and Logan both looked back and forth between them, probably trying to figure out where Janus was going with this.

“Thought that was normal,” Anxiety said. “Everyone lies a certain number of times a day, don’t they?”

Well, Janus wasn’t going to deny that. “Not everyone also steals construction equipment and knocks down buildings as a way to make an entrance, to be fair,” he pointed out.

“Fair enough. I don’t see how that’s relative, though. I thought you wanted to know what I’m doing here?”

Janus bit his lip. The fact that he brought that up again wasn’t a good sign. None of this was seeming to bother Anxiety at all. If he wanted to figure out what this guy was about he needed to get under his skin in some way.

“So you don’t want to fight. Is that because you brought a child along?”

Anxiety stilled. Ah, there was something.

“So he _is_ why you don’t want to fight?”

“Leave him out of it,” Anxiety said suddenly.

“What, you don’t like it when I’m mean to your pet?” Okay, maybe that was a little mean to the aforementioned child, but it definitely seemed to get a reaction out of Anxiety.

“Don’t— don’t talk about him like that,” he said. Maybe this was the wrong direction, because if Anxiety’s body language was anything to go by, he was now more uncomfortable than irritated.

Janus was thinking of a way to backtrack a little when Anxiety seemed to pause again. And then, to Janus’ surprise, he turned away entirely and put a hand to his mask near his ear.

“Um, excuse me, is this growing boring for you? That’s a real shame, considering you’re the reason we’re here in the first place.”

Anxiety’s reply clearly wasn’t meant for him. “Are you kidding me? You got pissed when I did that the _first_ time!” There was a pause, and Janus exchanged a baffled look with Patton and Logan— not that he could actually see their faces right now.

“If you didn’t want anyone to know about him _why did you send him along?”_ There was another pause, and Anxiety sighed. “Fine.”

He turned to face the other three thoroughly confused people standing across from him, while appearing thoroughly annoyed himself. “Sorry,” he said. “But it looks like my boss has scheduled a do-over. Again.”

Before Janus could ask what in the world that meant, something in his head seemed to snap and pain erupted behind his eyes that had to be similar to the way it would feel if someone used a jackhammer on them.

Janus screamed and grabbed his head. The worst of the pain receded almost instantly, enough that Janus’ surroundings returned and he found himself on the ground curled into a ball and clutching at his head. Well, this wasn’t humiliating at all.

“What the hell—” Anxiety muttered in the background, just before Patton and Logan appeared in front of Janus’ face and blocked him from view.

“Deceit?” Patton asked, sounding very concerned. “Are you okay? What’s happening? And— where are we? Why are we here?”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Janus got out through gritted teeth. “We’re here because of that asshole.” He gestured in Anxiety’s general direction.

Both Patton and Logan glanced over, and a second later seemed surprised that there was actually a person there, if the double take was anything to go by. Janus was taking a second to try and comprehend why exactly they didn’t seem to recognize him when Anxiety started talking again.

“Hey, I need you to stop Deceit from telling anyone else anything about us. Can you do that long term?”

There was a pause as Janus once again tried to work out what was happening, and then he felt something else shift in the air around him. Thankfully this time wasn’t painful, just strange. Anxiety was still looking at him, and Janus stared back.

“Meet back here tonight at midnight,” Anxiety said, and then he fired an actual grappling hook at a nearby building and took off, waving his hand towards Patton and Logan again as he left.

Janus gaped after him and was about to ask another question to Patton and Logan when one of them spoke first.

“Deceit?” Patton asked. “Are you okay? What’s happening? And— where are we? Why are we here? Why are we all in costumes?”

Janus turned to stare at him once again. “Didn’t we already have this conversation?”

Patton tipped his head in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about—”

Janus was interrupted by a loud horn of a truck driving past.

“Sorry, what was that?” Logan asked.

“I’m talking about how weird it is that you don’t seem to remember—”

Patton sneezed, very loudly. “Oh, god, this is why I hate wearing masks while I have a cold,” he muttered. “Sorry, Deceit, what was that?”

Janus looked back and forth between the two of them. “What exactly is happening here?”

“What do you mean?” Logan asked.

“I’m just trying to tell you about—”

“Oh my gosh! Look!”

They all turned to see three people across the street.

“It’s them! Look, Brandon, it’s them!”

“We should have this talk after you’re feeling better,” Patton said, as both he and Logan bent down to help him up.

Janus was absolutely no closer to figuring out what the fuck was happening, but he was still in quite a bit of pain and tired of laying on rubble in his superhero costume, so he let Patton and Logan help them all out of sight of everyone before they all pulled their masks off.

Anxiety had told him to meet back there at midnight. Did that mean he was going to learn something about what in the world had just happened? Because this was about the strangest day he’d had in a long time. He definitely didn’t trust Anxiety to not be setting up a trap, but he couldn’t think of any other way to get answers.

He’d just have to come prepared for anything.

…

Janus didn’t feel too much better after a couple hours had gone by, but he felt well enough to drive to the same alleyway as before and put his costume on again. He walked the last block to the apartment building to find Anxiety leaning back against a wall. He slipped the kitchen knife he’d taken down his sleeve a little more. He didn’t plan on using it if he didn’t have to, but it wasn’t like he was actually going to come without a weapon.

Anxiety stood up straighter when he saw Janus approaching. “You came.”

“Stay back. I want answers. What the fuck did you do to me? And to Morality and Logic?”

“Well, I tried to erase your memory,” Anxiety said hesitantly. “Which is my power. My boss sent Re— uh, my partner along on this mission, but forgot to mention that he wanted him a secret, so he told me to erase your memories and do this all again. I did it with no problem to Morality and Logic, but then you kinda… screamed and collapsed, so.”

“You can erase memories,” Janus said. “And what about that pet of yours? What did he do to me? I felt something.” (Okay, earlier he was trying to figure Anxiety out, now he was just trying to piss him off.)

Anxiety seemed to flinch backwards. “Seriously, don’t— don’t talk about him like that.”

“I don’t think you’re in much of a position with me to be asking for things. He’s the kid with the luck powers, right?”

Anxiety nodded. “He’s the reason you can’t tell Morality and Logic what’s going on. He changed your luck. Don’t even try, you’ll just end up interrupted in some way.” Anxiety chuckled a little and seemed to shake his head fondly. “He tried to call himself Badass Man.”

Janus raised an eyebrow. “Seriously?”

“Well, he also wanted to just be Ass Man, but I shot that down. I also shot down calling himself Nuts Man. We’re currently workshopping a supervillain name right now.”

“Uh-huh. Why could you erase Morality and Logic’s memories but not mine?”

“That’s what I don’t know,” Anxiety admitted. “I’ve never had a problem with it before.”

“We’ve _met_ before?”

“We’ve met multiple times,” Anxiety admitted hesitantly. “In multiple circumstances.”

Janus took a step back, suddenly very uncomfortable being here.

“Look,” Anxiety said again, sounding just as uncomfortable as Janus felt. “Quoting my boss here, but you’ve just become a liability. We’re not going to move forward with the plan until we figure out why I can’t erase you’re memory without pretty much just… entirely crippling you. So my boss wants us to meet back here every night until we figure out what’s going on.”

“Why in the world would I do that if I’m the only thing holding up this plan? I mean, it does _really_ sound like it has everyone’s best interests at heart. The longer I hold you off the better.”

Anxiety flinched again. “Um. Because if you don’t my boss is going to kill Roman,” he said quietly, and Janus’ blood ran cold.

“What?”

Anxiety looked down at the ground. “Janus, I’m sorry. I don’t want—”

“Oh, you’re sorry,” Janus whispered, brushing right past the fact that Anxiety clearly already knew who he was. “Well. As long as you’re _sorry.”_

Anxiety sniffed, and if it wasn’t ludicrous Janus would have said he was crying. “I, um, I’ll see you tomorrow,” he whispered, and fired his grappling hook off towards a rooftop before disappearing into the night.


	16. Chapter 16

Rosanna, it seemed, was more heartbroken about Virgil’s life than he himself was, as the whole time they both worked the following day she was clearly holding back tears.

“Um, okay,” she said, writing something else down in the notebook Virgil had given her. “So I think the crux of the issue is that you erased Janus’ memory of you when you were both back in high school.”

“What?” Virgil asked, peering down at the papers himself. “That was a million years ago. Why would that be affecting him now?”

“I don’t think it’s affecting him directly so much as affecting your ability to use your power on him. How many times have you used it since that time all those years ago?”

“Um…” Virgil took a minute to count. “Three. The first time Diggory had me fight him and I recognized him and panicked, once when he was getting too close to figuring things out when we were dating, um… Remus. And then the attempt last night caused what happened.”

Rosanna nodded and wrote something else down. “Okay. There’s a couple possibilities here. It’s possible that having multiple years of memories erased in some manner is too much for someone to handle, and any more is harmful for their brain. But you said Patton and Logan had no reaction to having their memories erased yesterday, and they had twelve years erased previously, all at once. Janus only had six years erased total.”

Virgil nodded.

“Okay. Then it’s probably more likely that what’s happening is negative reactions to having your memory affected over a long period of time.”

“Oh god,” Virgil said, suddenly thinking back on all the waiters and baristas whose memories he’d altered over the years. “I didn’t know that could happen.”

“Stop panicking Virgil, I don’t think a small shift would do anything,” Rosanna said, and wow she knew him too well. “Our memories fade naturally all the time. Especially the kinds of people whose memories you erase. Do you honestly think any restaurant staff actually remembers their customers for longer than they serve them?” she finished with a smirk.

“I don’t need to be called out like this, Rosanna.”

“Point is, your memories fading happens normally. But Janus…” Rosanna sighed. “Virgil, he wouldn’t have forgotten you on his own. At least nowhere near the time of his life that he did when you made him. The same goes for Remus. Patton and Logan would  _ never _ forget Remus on their own, and considering how close you say Janus seems to be to that family, I’m sure it’s true for him too. All of that seems to have built up overtime. I’m guessing the memories you erased from high school were the starting point, and then the times you erased his memory since then were like… adding pressure. Remus really could not have helped with that in any way. Eventually it just got to be too much, and now you can’t use your power on him without… you know. What happened last night.” Rosanna shifted the papers around and glanced back up at Virgil. “I can’t say anything about what forgetting Remus will do to Patton, Logan, and Roman long term. But that’s the issue with Janus.”

Virgil sat down at the lab table’s empty chair. “So you’re saying that by erasing his memories, I was hurting him.”

“Would you stop?” Rosanna said, smacking Virgil lightly on the arm. “I hate hearing you talk like that about yourself. You did the only thing you felt like you could. It’s not like Janus or Diggory gave you much of a choice.”

“I  _ did, _ though,” Virgil protested. “No matter what my intention was I still ended up hurting him.”

“You only hurt him to the extent that you can’t use your power on him. As long as you don’t do that, you’re fine.”

“Diggory is going to want me to use my power on him,” Virgil muttered.

“Well, you can’t. It isn’t safe.”

“He’s just going to make us look for a workaround.” Virgil rested his hand on his chin. “You know that, right?”

“Yeah,” Rosanna said, giving Virgil a look. “But who knows how long that will take.”

Virgil sat up a little straighter. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying through very unfortunate circumstances, you’ve bought yourself a lot of time, Virgil. There are plenty of things you could do with it.”

Virgil was silent for a minute. He was pretty sure he knew what Rosanna was getting at. “That’s dangerous.”

“Was it ever not going to be?”

“I… I’ll think about it.”

“Good.”

Virgil very much wanted to lighten the mood at this point, so he raised an eyebrow. “Is that any way to address your superior, Rosanna?”

“Virgil, I just learned your whole life story. And it was definitely sad enough that you lose the ‘sir’ title.”

“God, finally.” Virgil’s phone buzzed and he glanced down at it. “Ugh. I’ve gotta go talk to Diggory. And then I’m going to vanish back into my apartment for the rest of the night to watch Mulan with Remus.”

“Have fun.”

“The second part will be,” Virgil muttered as he stood. “Go home soon, Rosanna. And say hi to your son for me.”

“I will.”

…

“So we can agree that Shang is bisexual,” Remus said with a firm nod as the credits started to roll.

“Was there ever a question otherwise?” Virgil asked. “I am so glad that is your first comment after this ends.”

“Of course. It’s the only valid comment. I can’t believe you actually saw it in theatres!” Remus said, grinning up at him.

“What can I say? I’m old.”

“You are.”

Virgil chuckled and was about to teasingly shove him towards the other side of the couch when the distinct sound of his door opening came and Virgil spun around to find Diggory walking in.

“Is this what you spend your time doing?” he asked, his voice going dangerously low.

“Only after we finish work for the day,” Virgil said instantly, pulling Remus closer to his side on instinct. Remus tucked his head under Virgil’s arm. “Was there something else you needed?”

“I was coming up here to make sure you were still planning on going to meet Janus tonight.”

Virgil nodded. “I was going to leave in about two hours. I figured we would meet at the same time.”

“For tonight. Set an earlier time for tomorrow. And get Rosanna to give you something to scan his brain with.”

Virgil nodded. “Alright. Was there something else? You don’t normally come up to my apartment.”

“I just wanted to check on your pet,” Diggory said, coming to a stop above the couch. Remus ducked further into Virgil’s side. “How is his training going?”

“It’s only been a couple days, Diggory,” Virgil said, squeezing Remus’ hand tightly. “He managed to change Janus’ luck yesterday, but that was hard for someone still learning how to use his power. He’ll need a little bit of time to be able to use it in multiple ways at once.”

“Yet another way that idiot has proved insufferable,” Diggory muttered. “I want you training all day tomorrow until you meet with Janus. Take away his meals if you think he does poorly enough.”

Virgil kind of wanted to smack Diggory right now. He took a breath to try and calm himself down and nodded.

“Good.” Diggory turned and walked out without another word. Remus waited until they heard the quiet ding of the elevator before turning to Virgil.

“I hate him,” Remus whispered.

“Yeah, me too,” Virgil said, pulling Remus into another hug.

“You’re not really going to take away my food, are you?”

“Never, Remus,” Virgil whispered. “Even if you did poorly tomorrow, I would never take away your food.”

Remus huffed a little and leaned back on the couch. “Why does Diggory call me your pet?”

“Because he’s an asshole, that’s why. Don’t bother with him.”

“That Janus guy did it too, though.”

Virgil winced. Janus had been trying to piss him off, he knew that. And Remus had apparently become a good way to do so, which was more surprising to Virgil than anything else. The problem was that he couldn’t really explain that to Remus without making Janus sound like a dick, and he didn’t want to do that.

“Janus is just… confused,” he tried, and that was about as far as he got before Remus gave him a look that said he was very aware that Virgil was spewing bullshit.

Virgil sighed. “Okay, look,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Janus doesn’t know you. I think he was trying to figure me out, and you’re a pretty easy pressure point. It was a shitty thing to do, but we were fighting anyway. Janus didn’t actually mean it.”

Remus sighed. “Yeah, okay.”

“Hey,” Virgil said. “If he knew it upset you, he would apologize and not do it again. Even if he doesn’t know you that well. That’s the difference, okay?”

Remus nodded. “Okay.” He burrowed himself under Virgil’s arm again, and Virgil pulled Remus into another side hug.

“You really care about me?” Remus asked quietly. “We haven’t known each other that long either.”

“You’re impossible not to care about,” Virgil said, ruffling Remus’ hair. “You’re too adorable.”

“Excuse you, I am an incredibly sexy twelve year old.”

Virgil snorted. “Sure, Re.”

Virgil left to go see Janus a couple hours later after making sure Remus was asleep, and locking his apartment so only he could get in. Well, Diggory could always override it, but at least it made him feel like Remus was relatively safer.

He got Rosanna’s brain scanner, and headed down to the building he’d knocked down yesterday. Janus was already waiting when he pulled up, on a very different motorcycle so he couldn’t recognize it as “Virgil’s.”

“Anxiety,” Janus said as he climbed off the motorcycle and headed into the building.

“Hey, Janus,” Virgil said, because Janus had heard him say his name last night, and he was getting really sick of calling him Deceit. “My boss wants us to start meeting earlier than midnight. Is 10:00 okay for you?”

“Because that’s so much earlier,” Janus grumbled.

“I don’t want to push it too far. This area might be mostly abandoned, but if we meet too early people could still see us,” Virgil explained, pulling the brain scanner out of the weapons compartment. “I’m also supposed to scan your brain.”

“You don’t get to touch me. I’ll do it myself.”

“Fine,” Virgil said. He understood the need to have small things that made you feel like you were in control, even when you very much weren’t. He passed the brain scanner over to Janus and pointed at the button that he needed to press. “You just hold it up to your forehead.”

Janus sighed even as he did so, and handed it back to Virgil a second later. Virgil checked and saw a complete scan on there. He had no idea what it meant, but that was for Rosanna to figure out.

“I don’t suppose you know anything already?” Janus asked. “If I have to do this for fear of a child’s death, I at least want to know what the hell is wrong with my brain.”

Virgil hesitated. “We think,” he said hesitantly. “That my erasing your memory multiple times before has affected my ability to do so again by putting too much pressure on your brain.”

“How many times have you erased my memory?” Janus asked, eyes widening. “And how different is it from Morality and Logic’s?”

“You, three. Almost four if you count last night. Patton and Logan, three. Counting last night.”

“Wait, then what’s the difference?” Janus asked. “Your power can’t be that touchy.”

Well, that’s what he’d been hoping Janus wouldn’t ask. “We’re still working on that,” Virgil said. It was only a partial lie, maybe that would work?

Apparently not, as a second later Janus crossed his arms. “Liar. You know something about what the difference is.”

Damn. Well, this part would be fun. “Yeah, I do,” Virgil admitted hesitantly.

“Are you going to tell me?”

“…No.”

“I’d like to know what’s happening with my head, considering you’re the one who’s forcing me to be here in the first place!” Janus snapped.

“Hey, I don’t want to be here any more than you do!” Virgil snapped. “You think I’m in love with the plan where my options are figure out how to erase your memory again or cause the murder of a twelve year old?”

“Would you erase my memory right now if you could?”

“I—” Virgil stopped. “Yes.” Only because he didn’t want Roman to die, but that didn’t change his answer. Easier to make Janus think he was a dick. Then he wouldn’t have to deal with fighting his friend. He could just fight his enemy and ex boyfriend that he was still in love with and who had no idea who he was. Way easier.

Sure enough though, Janus leaned back like that proved his point. “Well then I think I’m at least owed an explanation as to why you would. Why did you erase my memory the first time?”

“I’m not allowed to tell you that.”

“Liar.”

“Telling you will just make everything worse.”

“Okay, fine. Why did you erase my memory the other times, then?”

“I’m not allowed to tell you that.”

Janus didn’t say anything for a moment. “So let me get this straight,” he said finally, sounding very angry. “You aren’t allowed to tell me why you erased my memory, except for the first time you did. And you  _ won’t _ tell me why you did that because you think it will make everything worse.”

Virgil nodded.

“Well, you’re just a joy to be around.”

Virgil winced, glad it wouldn’t show through his mask. He had very much hoped he wouldn’t have to talk to Janus one-on-one again after breaking up with him. The fact that the meetings had to happen under threat of murder just made it worse. He wondered if Diggory remembered who Janus was, and was doing this to torment Virgil. He wasn’t normally supposed to do stuff like this, after all. It would normally be a guard’s job to do grunt work like this. Tormenting him seemed a more likely motivation for Diggory, and leaving him wondering as to whether or not that’s what he was actually doing also seemed like him.

Whatever Diggory’s motivation was, Virgil wasn’t sure how long he could stand to be around Janus when he was angry at him.

“I’m going home,” he murmured, and headed for the street where his motorcycle was sitting.

“Hey, I’m not done talking to you yet.”

“I am,” Virgil said. “I’ll see you tomorrow. I’ll bring the scan results.”

“Hey, wait a second—”

Virgil was already driving off before Janus could finish.


	17. Chapter 17

In case anyone was curious, Janus wasn’t the hugest fan of being blackmailed under threat of murder of one of the most important people in the world to him. It wasn’t the greatest time.

He’d been spending more time around Roman as of late for obvious reasons. He’d started doing everything he could to prepare from the Sanders house if he could, as if whoever the fuck Anxiety’s boss was decided to get bored and kill Roman anyway, he was going to be there to protect him.

Anxiety clearly didn’t like the idea of someone killing Roman. Granted, that didn’t necessarily win him a  _ ton _ of points, as that was a pretty normal thing to not want to do. Not wanting to kill children was generally about as bare minimum as bare minimum could get.

Janus spent most of the morning trying to help Roman get a handle on his powers. He had managed to make something disappear for a second the other day, so they were viewing that as some kind of progress. Roman didn’t manage to make anything else disappear, meaning the house was still covered in hairballs and lipstick, and Roman was getting frustrated.

“Okay,” Janus said as they were both eating lunch. “Maybe we’re going about this the wrong way?”

Roman looked up, seeming suddenly hopeful again. “What do you mean?”

Janus swallowed the lump in his throat at the sudden fear that he could lose this. “Maybe,” he said, before pausing to take a deep breath so his voice wouldn’t sound so shaky. “Maybe instead of trying to make something disappear, we should start with trying to make something you want appear instead.”

“But there’s already tons of stuff around the house,” Roman pointed out. “I thought that’s what we didn’t want.”

“Yes, but you might be able to make things appear more easily than making things disappear. If we start with that, maybe it’ll help you gain more control.”

Roman nodded slightly. “Okay,” he said after a second. “We can try that.”

They finished their lunch and put their dishes in the dishwasher before heading back into the living room. “Okay, let’s try something familiar. Can you make a Disney character appear?”

Roman’s eyes lit up a little, and he nodded. He looked down at the coffee table and concentrated for a minute. After a second, a very detailed image of Mushu appeared, and Roman started grinning.

“Dishonor on  _ you, _ dishonor on your  _ cow!” _ the Mushu illusion screamed, just before it fizzled out.

Roman huffed and crossed his arms. “Dang it.”

“Hey, that was really good compared to trying to make things disappear!” Janus pointed out. “That’s progress!”

“I had perfect control over all of this before though,” Roman grumbled. He sighed. “I am once again announcing that puberty is stupid.”

Janus laughed. “You are absolutely right about that.” He thought for a minute. “How about something else?”

“What?” Roman asked, glancing up at him.

“Maybe it would be easier if you’re not trying to make something out of thin air. Do you think you could make me look like Patton?”

“Oh, that’s a good idea,” Roman mused, before turning to face him. He bit his lip and concentrated again, before the air around Janus shifted in feel, and he looked down to see Patton’s favorite cat hoodie where his shirt had been just a moment ago. They both waited for a good ten seconds, but the illusion didn’t disappear.

“Hey, this is easier!” Roman called happily. He seemed to concentrate again, and Janus felt the air around him shift. This time when he looked down he saw green scales, a cloak, and wings.

“Woah, who’s this?” he asked, looking at Roman and raising an eyebrow.

“I made you the Dragon Witch!” Roman called. “She’s a character I made up!”

“A dragon and a witch at the same time?” Janus asked, amused.

“Yeah! Isn’t it great?”

“It’s very inspired,” Janus said, crossing his arms and causing the image to shift with him. It did it easily enough, and Roman seemed to take that as a good sign too, because he beamed.

“Okay,” Janus said, standing up from the couch. “Do you want to take a break from training and play a board game?”

“Yeah!” Roman called, hopping up too. “Let’s continue our Monopoly game!”

Roman ran off to the game closet to pull out the box as Janus pulled up a note on his phone that had where all of the pieces on the board were and who had what properties and what amount of money. Janus set his phone down where they could both see it, and he and Roman started setting up the properties and passing out the money. Janus went through the money that they had before glancing up at Roman and getting caught up as he saw the grin on his face.

He watched him for a couple seconds before Roman smiled up at him and paused. “Uncle Janus? What’s wrong? You look sad.”

“What?” Janus asked, shaking himself out of his daze. He smiled. “Oh, nothing. I just… I love you very much, Roman.”

Roman smiled again, although it looked a little more teasing. “I love you too, Uncle Janus. Are we playing Monopoly or what?”

Janus laughed, although it sounded a little less happy than it probably should have. “Alright, alright, Mr. Sassy. Hand me those dice, it was my turn.”

…

Anxiety was already there when Janus arrived this time. He was holding a handful of papers that must have had the result of Janus’ brain scan, and a notebook. He passed both over to Janus without a word as he approached.

Janus took them and looked through the scans first, which would have been incomprehensible to him without the notes. Apparently Anxiety’s power being used on him (a bunch of crossed out words) caused some kind of damage to his hippocampus, although it came up normal until run through a filter that specifically checked for Anxiety’s power.

Janus opened the notebook next. It looked like there were a couple pages torn out at the beginning, and after that there were notes on something else entirely.

“Who’s Remus? And what’s so great about his power?”

“Remus is the kid,” Anxiety said. “From the fight the other day. With the luck powers.” He looked to the side and muttered something that sounded like “I probably should have torn those pages out too.”

“You’re training a kid to fight,” Janus said, raising a disapproving eyebrow, though Anxiety couldn’t see it.

“I don’t  _ want to,” _ Anxiety said. It sounded like he was speaking through gritted teeth. “Despite how baffled you seem by the idea, I do care about Remus.”

“You certainly seem like it, with how you drag him into training and fights with superheroes he could not be nearly ready to participate in.”

_ “Why do you think he was sitting on a roof nearby?” _ Anxiety hissed. “You think I would ever forgive myself if anything happened to him?”

“Whatever,” Janus muttered, flipping through the couple of pages about Remus and finding the pages about himself. It was mostly just some notes about ways they could potentially work around his damaged hippocampus and let Anxiety use his power on him anyway.

“I don’t want you touching my head until you’re at  _ least _ certain it won’t hurt me,” Janus said, glaring back up at Anxiety.

“That’s the plan. Why do you think we’re meeting here every night?”

“Because you threatened to kill my nephew if I didn’t,” Janus said plainly. “That is the only reason I am here right now.”

“You say, as if I don’t know that,” Anxiety muttered. “My boss refuses to let you come back to the building for any tests, which is probably a good thing as we would just trap you if you did. But that also limits our capabilities. I’ll have to bring smaller testing instruments here and take them back home to be reviewed the next day. Which means you won’t get any answers until the night after the tests.”

“Wonderful, I have about a million objections here.”

“If I think someone is going to come after you due to the results of any particular day I’ll text you.”

Janus narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms. “Why would you do that?”

“A heads up is only fair. It also gives you time to get Roman to a safe location if you need to.”

“How will I know it’s from you?”

“You’ll know.”

“How?” Janus insisted.

Anxiety sighed. “It’ll probably say something along the lines of ‘Hey, Janus, it’s Anxiety. They’re coming, and you either do or don’t need to get the twelve year old to safety.’”

Janus leaned back slightly. Not a lie, but there was a secret involved there. That wasn’t the whole story. “If that happens and you try to put Roman in danger—”

“I would literally be trying to  _ prevent _ that! And he’s technically in danger already.”

“Well, forgive me for not trusting you, for obvious reasons.”

“I would be worried if you did,” Anxiety said. “Now I’ll need those back.”

Janus frowned even as he passed the papers and the notebook back over.

“Goodbye,” Anxiety said, grabbing his motorcycle helmet from where it had rested on the ground next to him. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” He headed out to the ugly motorcycle that couldn’t even hold a candle to what Virgil’s had been like.

“I await with bated breath,” Janus muttered, and waited until Anxiety drove away to head back to his own car.

He always texted Patton and Logan when he left his meetings with Anxiety as if he was leaving from work. It was the best way to ensure that if someone did happen to try and murder him on the way home, they would know something was up if he didn’t text them when he arrived. He felt somewhat childish texting his friends about whether or not he arrived home safe, but for now it was simply something that had to be done. Patton and Logan were getting on his case a little about working so many late nights, but that couldn’t be helped either.

He arrived home and brushed his teeth, put on pajamas and climbed into bed, getting ready to stare at the ceiling for the next couple hours.

He wasn’t getting much sleep lately. He’d tried a couple times to attempt to tell Patton and Logan to watch Roman a little closer, but each time he’d been interrupted by a cartoonishly ridiculous coincidence. He was starting to really hate this Remus kid for how much he was indirectly putting his honorary nephew in danger.

Janus sighed and rolled over. He supposed that was another thing that couldn’t be helped right now. But if he ever got a chance to change something, he wasn’t sure how much he would hold himself back— well, okay, from Anxiety. Remus was still a kid. But Anxiety he would happily maim. No one threatened his nephew and got away with it.

Janus rolled over again. Yeah. He wouldn’t be sleeping tonight. Maybe he could watch a movie tomorrow with Roman and sleep then. Before he had to go see his potential murderer again. How the hell had his life become this horrible this quickly?


	18. Chapter 18

“Virgil?”

Virgil grumbled something and rolled over.

“Virgil, don’t we have training?”

“Saturday. Weekends are free. Go back to bed, Remus.”

There was a moment where Virgil thought Remus did just that, and he was just starting to fall back asleep when he felt something crawl onto the couch and under his arm. Prying his eyes open for half a second revealed the something to be Remus. He was falling asleep again too fast to even think about asking him to move.

Unfortunately, they were woken up less than an hour later by Virgil’s phone going off. He groaned and grabbed at it. He answered without looking at who was calling.

“Virgil?” Scott asked on the other end. “Are you almost down here?”

“Wha?”

“Did you not get Diggory’s text about training today? That he’s going to supervise?”

A spike of fear went through Virgil, and he shifted enough that Remus grumbled and rolled over. “What? It’s Saturday!”

“Virgil, he wants you down here in two minutes!”

“Shit,” Virgil hissed, looking at the texts on his phone and confirming that Diggory had in fact texted almost an hour ago. “Remus, wake up,” he said, shaking him. Remus grumbled again, ever difficult to get up, and Virgil shoved him off the couch.

Remus was awake now, and blinking up at Virgil angrily. “Hey!”

“Diggory wants us downstairs in two minutes, go get dressed!”

That seemed to get Remus moving, and he jumped up and scrambled for the bedroom. Virgil followed, grabbing his workout clothes and heading into the bathroom so Remus could change in the bedroom.

They both made it into the elevator in around a minute. “Okay, remember to not look as capable as you actually are just yet,” Virgil said to Remus. Remus nodded. A second later the doors started to open, and Virgil grabbed Remus’ arm and pulled them both down the hall to the sparring room. If Diggory wasn’t there yet they might be able to smooth things over—

Well, that plan was ruined as he opened the door.

“Diggory!” Virgil called, pulling Remus behind him slightly. “I am so sorry we’re late, we—”

“Get in here,” Diggory said. He sounded way too calm, which could not have been good. “I want to see how you’ve been progressing with your pet.”

Remus ducked a little further behind him, and Virgil took his hand as they both stepped forward. Scott was standing behind Diggory looking more than a little nervous, which did not help with how anxious Virgil was already.

“Well,” Virgil said. “I don’t think it would be good to expect too much from Remus right now. He’s keeping up using his power on Janus, which is taking a lot of his energy—”

“Let’s start with making Scott trip and fall on his face,” Diggory said casually. “That should be easy enough.”

“I don’t want to hurt him,” Remus said quietly.

“Well, it looks like that’s your problem, doesn’t it?” Diggory said, raising an eyebrow.

Virgil felt Remus take a deep breath from where he was holding onto him, and slowly step out to his other side in order to face Scott. Scott nodded slightly, and Virgil caught it, though he wasn’t sure that Remus would.

Remus looked over at Scott, and Virgil saw a look of concentration cross his face that he didn’t normally have. He must have been trying to make this seem harder than it was for him. Sure enough, a second later, Scott tripped on what looked like nothing and fell, landing on his elbows and managing to keep from his face hitting the ground.

Scott climbed up a second later, and Remus glanced hesitantly over at Diggory.

He narrowed his eyes. “He was supposed to fall on his face. Do it again.”

Virgil swallowed and crossed his arms. It was going to be a very long day.

Diggory had Remus try with Scott until Scott was clearly bruised and Remus was clearly uncomfortable, and then switched to let Virgil be the target for a while. By the time lunchtime hit Virgil could see Remus’ hands shaking and badly wanted to get them both out of there. So when Diggory finally told them to go get something to eat and be back in half an hour, Virgil took them up to his apartment, put some leftover spaghetti in the microwave, and sat Remus down on the couch to help him breathe for a while.

“I hate this,” Remus mumbled into Virgil’s chest.

“I know.”

“Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine. We’re going to see Karli at the end of training anyway.”

“Why is he making us work on a Saturday now?”

“I don’t know. I think he’s just being a dick.”

Remus’ stomach growled before he could reply, and Virgil pushed Remus back to arms’ length. “Let’s go eat something. We haven’t eaten all day.”

Remus nodded, and they both headed into the kitchen to get the spaghetti out of the microwave.

By the time they finished eating they had ten minutes to make it back down to the sparring room, so they headed for the elevator again. Virgil had been too stressed to notice Remus’ lack of dancing to the polka music that morning, but he was noticing it now.

Diggory was already there once again when they opened the door, and Scott looked even more nervous than earlier from his spot behind him.

“About time,” Diggory snapped, and Virgil bit back a reply that they were five minutes early because he wasn’t an idiot.

For the second half of the day Diggory had Virgil and Scott spar with each other and Remus choose the winner based on whoever he whispered in his ear. He must have gotten it right each time, because Diggory never yelled or glared, and Remus’ discomfort level increased with each fight.

By the time Diggory finally called off training and told everyone to go visit Karli before she left for the night, Virgil’s entire body was aching. There was no way he was going to let Remus know that, though. Scott seemed to be thinking in a similar way, because despite the clear winces that Virgil noticed as he pushed himself off the ground after their last fight, he smiled and reassured Remus as soon as he ran over stammering apologies (after Diggory had left the room, of course).

Karli was used to worse injuries than bruises, and fixed them without a second glance, which Virgil was grateful for, as it seemed to be helping Remus calm down. He double checked with Scott on the way back to his apartment that they didn’t have anything to do the next day. Scott confirmed they didn’t, and then they both finally got to eat some dinner.

Remus spent a good ten minutes poking at the stew Virgil had attempted. He had been trying to cheer him up, and Remus had loved stew back the night they met, but he seemed too unsettled to really be hungry.

“Hey, you want to watch a movie?” Virgil asked, nudging Remus in the shoulder.

“I’m not in the mood for Disney,” Remus mumbled.

“Me neither. I was referring to a horror film.”

Remus looked up slightly at that. “Well… maybe one.”

Virgil smiled a little. “Okay. Then I’m going to go get my costume on and meet Janus, and then when I get back we’ll stream the goriest horror movie I can find.”

Remus started smiling a little more mischievously. “Even if you have to pay for it?”

“Even if I have to pay for it,” Virgil reassured, ruffling Remus’ hair and getting him to laugh a little before putting his empty bowl in the sink to do after Remus was in bed. “But only if you finish your stew.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Remus called as Virgil headed back to the bedroom. He pulled his costume out of his closet and pulled it on over his clothes, since it was cold enough for that anyway, and was about to pull his mask on when he heard a cry from the other room.

Virgil sprinted from the bedroom and into the living room to find Diggory standing over Remus, who was backed against the couch, his nose bleeding.

“Diggory!” Virgil cried. He moved to run forward and throw himself in front of Remus when Diggory spun on him and punched Virgil in the nose. Virgil’s hand flew to grab it as he stumbled backwards.

“What are you doing?” Virgil asked, moving forward again.

“I think your pet needs a little bit of an incentive to work faster,” Diggory said lightly, turning to look down at Remus who had started to shake. “We’re on a tight timeframe here, and he is key to this plan. He needs to be doing better than he is.” Diggory raised a fist.

“Diggory, stop!”

Diggory leveled a monstrous glare at Virgil. “If you are not out that door and on your way to see Janus in ten seconds I’ll do worse.”

“What?”

“Get out, Virgil.”

“Diggory, hang on. Let’s think about this—”

“Ten seconds or I break his leg and refuse to let him see Karli.”

“Diggory!”

“Ten! Nine!”

“Diggory, he won’t be able to help if he has to recover from a broken bone! If you just—”

“Eight! Seven!”

“Look, I’ll bring him down to training tomorrow, okay?”

“Six! Five!”

“We’ll work twice as hard!”

“Four! Three!”

Virgil looked down at Remus, who was staring at him in terror and looked like he was trying not to cry.

“Two!” Diggory lifted his foot up and looked about to slam it down on Remus’ knee.

Virgil turned and sprinted for the door, slamming it shut just in time to hear a loud smack and a whimper. He didn’t stop running after that, taking the stairs down to the garage and barely remembering to pull his mask on before grabbing the motorcycle he’d been using and driving it towards the exit.

By the time he actually got to the meeting point he wasn’t surprised that he couldn’t stand very well, and he just managed to stumble out of sight of the road before collapsing back against a pile of rubble and burying his head in his arms.

Virgil choked on a strangled breath and screamed, the sound muffled enough by his arms that he was pretty sure no one else would hear it.

_ You just left him there! How could you just  _ leave him there?

_ What choice did I have? _

_ You left him! Choices don’t matter, you monster, you fucking left him! _

_ I was trying to— _

_ You  _ left!

“Um… Anxiety?”

Virgil jerked upright and slammed his head backwards into a piece of rubble. He blinked and grabbed onto a different piece to hold himself up as he was suddenly dizzy.

“Woah, hey!”

Janus was suddenly kneeling in front of him in a way that would have seemed concerned if he didn’t rightfully hate him.

“Hey, what… what’s wrong?”

“I just left him there he was standing and he was going to and I just left!” Virgil screamed into Janus’ face.

“Um… what?” Janus asked. He certainly  _ sounded _ very concerned.

“He was—” Virgil pressed a hand to his chest and pulled in a shaky gasp. “He’s going to—”

“Hey, breathe.” Janus shifted so he was sitting and pulled Virgil’s hand over onto his own chest as he put his on Virgil’s. “Breathe with me, okay? We’re gonna do in for four, hold for seven, out for eight.”

Oh, yeah, he knew that one. Janus had probably had to learn that one due to those panic attacks he’d had in high school after Virgil abandoned him.

“Anxiety! I need you to focus on my face, okay?”

“I can’t see your face,” Virgil gasped.

“Well, focus on my voice then.”

Virgil did his best.

“In for four, hold for seven, out for eight, okay?”

Virgil nodded.

They ran through that several times, and by the end of it Virgil certainly wasn’t calm, but he wasn’t hyperventilating anymore. “Um. Thank you,” he muttered, pulling his hand back as Janus did the same.

“No problem,” Janus said, sounding much more awkward than he had a couple seconds ago. “I, um, I didn’t know that’s why you called yourself Anxiety.”

“It isn’t, asshole,” Virgil snapped, squeezing the sleeves of his costume tightly.

“Oh.”

Virgil choked back a sob and buried his head in his arms again, clawing at them through his sleeves.

“Hey, come on,” Janus said, pulling Virgil’s arms out in front of him. “I just helped you out of a panic attack, don’t have another one.”

“I left him there, Janus,” Virgil whispered.

“Left who? What happened?”

“Diggory. Boss,” Virgil choked out. “He has Remus, he— he was going to— but he said if I didn’t leave he would just hurt him worse so I— I had to— I just— he doesn’t care.” Virgil sat up and looked Janus straight in the eyes— or well, in their general direction. He wasn’t sure why it was suddenly so important that Janus knew this. “Understand? He doesn’t care how Remus does in training, if he surpassed every expectation he wouldn’t care he just— he just wants an excuse to hurt a twelve year old. That’s all he wants. Janus, do you understand? He doesn’t  _ care.” _

Virgil was pretty sure from the stunned silence he got that Janus was staring at him.

“…Jesus Christ, Anxiety.”

“I just left him there,” Virgil whispered, and buried his head in his arms again just before he started to sob.

After a couple seconds he felt Janus’ arms awkwardly encircle him, and because Virgil was a selfish monster, he didn’t even hesitate before throwing himself into Janus’ chest and screaming his panic into it. Janus didn’t seem to mind, though, at least not enough that he moved Virgil away.

“I could— I could help you go back and—”

“No!” Virgil cried. “No, there’s hundreds of people in that building even at night, you wouldn’t make it past the entrance without getting captured and your friends wouldn’t know to look for you because Diggory would force me to make them forget you exist and I can’t do that to you do you understand  _ I can’t do that to you!” _

“Okay, okay,” Janus whispered. “Okay we’ll— we’ll stay here.”

Virgil sobbed again into Janus’ chest. “And why would you help me anyway,” he whispered after a second. “I’m the bad guy, remember?”

“You’re having a breakdown because you just told me your boss is a monster who abuses children,” Janus said. “I would never forgive myself if I left any child in a situation like that.”

There was a moment of sickening silence.

“That’s not what I meant.”

“No, I get it.”

“No, you—”

“I hate myself already, Jan, let it go.”

“Hey, this is  _ not _ your fault.”

“Well I’m the one who took him from his family, aren’t I?”

Janus was quiet for a moment. “Are… are you?”

Virgil sniffed. “That was Diggory’s order too,” he admitted.

“Then it’s not your fault.”

“I could have just not followed the order.”

“Based on what’s happening tonight he would have done something worse. This is the same guy who’s threatening to kill my nephew, right?”

Virgil choked on another sob and said nothing, which he supposed was enough of an answer.

Neither of them said anything for a very long time after that. Janus ended up rubbing Virgil’s back, and though it was incredibly awkward, Virgil wasn’t going to say he didn’t appreciate it.

“I’m sorry,” Janus said, quietly enough that Virgil thought he’d misheard.

“Huh?”

“For calling Remus your pet. I was trying to figure you out by messing with you, but Remus clearly matters deeply to you, and that makes that kind of remark cruel. I won’t say anything like that again.”

“Diggory calls him that too,” Virgil whispered.

“Then I’m even more sorry.”

“You didn’t know.”

“That changes nothing about the fact that I’m sorry.”

“Janus,” Virgil whispered. “I left him there.”

“You… you had to.”

“That changes nothing about the fact that I left him there,” Virgil echoed back.

“You’ll make it up to him.”

“How could I possibly?”

“How could I know?”

Virgil didn’t want to cry again, but that remark got him very close.

“You’ll figure it out,” Janus murmured. “Because you love him.”

“How could you know that?”

“After tonight? How could I not?”

Virgil didn’t know how to explain that he loved Remus because Janus loved Remus, and that he just didn’t remember that he did. He supposed, in the end, that didn’t mean that he  _ didn’t _ love Remus.

Virgil’s phone went off, very loudly in the silence.

That Dick: If you’re finished with Janus you can come back now. Karli went home, she can help Remus tomorrow morning.

“I have to go,” Virgil said, standing.

“Tell me if he’s okay, please.”

“We have a healer coming tomorrow—” Virgil cut himself off. “I will.”

Janus nodded, and Virgil headed back out to his motorcycle, driving back home faster than he probably should have.

He put the motorcycle back in the garage, sprinted up the stairs just as fast as he’d sprinted down them, and opened the door, taking extra caution to be quiet with it.

Remus was curled in a ball behind the couch. He looked like finger painting gone wrong.

“Remus?”

Remus pried his eyes open and lifted his gaze. “V’rgil?”

“Remus we have to— we have to clean you up.”

“It hurts, Virgil,” Remus cried.

“I know. I know. I think I still have a first aid kit in the bathroom from before Karli joined. Do you want to go in there or do you want me to bring it out here?”

“I don’t want to get blood on your carpet,” Remus whispered. His breath caught and he sniffed.

“You don’t have to worry about that for a  _ second, _ Remus, okay? You— come here.” Virgil reached down and scooped Remus into his arms. That was apparently all it took, because Remus turned and buried his head in Virgil’s chest and started to cry.

“I’m so sorry, Re,” Virgil whispered. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s not your fault,” Remus whispered.

“I’m still sorry.”

Remus sniffed again. “I wanna go to the bathroom,” he mumbled.

“Okay.”

He carried them both there and set Remus down so he could sit on the toilet while he dug under the counter for the first aid kit. It was pretty sparse, but it would have to do for right now.

“Okay,” he said, setting in on the counter and turning to Remus. “Anything broken?”

Remus shook his head. “He said he wouldn’t do that ‘cause you left,” he whispered.

“Okay,” Virgil said. He took a deep breath so he didn’t start crying again. He needed to focus on Remus right now. “Which part hurts the most?”

Remus lifted his right leg slightly. Virgil got down on the ground and pulled up his pant leg to see what was going to be a nasty bruise if it got the chance to finish forming. Virgil pulled the bruise cream out and rubbed it on there, making sure to save enough for others. “Okay. Where next?”

It took about ten minutes to get to all the bruises and bandage all the cuts, and by that point Remus had stopped crying, though he still looked fragile in a way Virgil was very unused to for Remus.

Virgil put the first aid kit back under the counter and turned to face Remus. “Okay,” he said. “Is there something else you want to do?”

“I just want to go to bed,” Remus whispered.

Virgil nodded, and took Remus’ hand when he grabbed for him. They both headed out of the bathroom and into the bedroom, and Remus climbed onto the bed and pulled back the covers.

He tugged Virgil’s arm. “Stay?”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Virgil said, deciding to pointedly ignore the “again” that rang out in the silence and pulling back the covers on the bed before climbing under them. Remus crawled into the space between his arms, and Virgil wrapped them around him.

“Remus?”

“Yeah?”

“You know this isn’t  _ your _ fault, right?”

“Yeah. It’s Diggory being an asshole.”

Virgil smiled a little despite himself. “Good.” He kissed Remus on the forehead and pulled him closer, and that’s where they stayed until they fell asleep.

…

Rosanna was staring at Virgil the following morning when he entered the lab, in the way that clearly meant the story had spread. Virgil was running late due to visiting Karli, and Remus was now standing a little too closely to his side, because there was no way Virgil was ever going to leave him alone in the apartment again.

“Hey, Rosanna?” Virgil said as he sat.

“Yeah?”

“You know that thing you said that we bought ourselves time for?”

Rosanna nodded.

“Let’s do it.”


	19. Chapter 19

_ “What _ are you doing?” Janus asked, as Anxiety kept scribbling in the notebook he was holding.

“We’re taking down Diggory,” Anxiety said. “Rosanna has hacking skills, she’s looking into people in the building to find out who’s actually loyal to Diggory and who’s desperate or being blackmailed. I just want to know if you’re on board. If not then I’ll—”

“I’m on board,” Janus cut off. “What do you need me to do?”

“We need to find a way to get Remus’ power to stop affecting you,” Anxiety said. “So you can tell Logan and Patton what’s going on. Unfortunately, I can’t just bring Remus here. Diggory would know something’s up, especially since he’s watching him like a hawk.”

“Wait, where’s Remus now?” Janus asked. If that poor kid was alone in Anxiety’s apartment again—

“Rosanna is staying with him. She’s agreed to stay until I come back, and leave after I get there. She and Karli are going to take turns.”

Janus nodded. “Okay. That’s good.”

“So the main problem is that you won’t have any way to see Remus for him to stop his power from affecting you. And we can’t just send someone else to tell Logan and Patton because Diggory is watching them just as closely. Which means we’re going to have to cause another battle. That’ll be a slightly more long-term goal.” Anxiety passed the notebook over, and Janus took it, looking at what he’d written down so far. “I’m pretty sure I can make Diggory impatient by dragging my feet a little with you and making it seem like we’re not making a ton of progress. And that way Remus isn’t in any danger either, at least, no more than before.”

“Always a good thing to shoot for,” Janus muttered. “Why is this Diggory guy such a horrible person, anyway?”

“Apparently he had a terrible father, which is like, the most bullshit excuse I’ve ever heard,” Anxiety said, in a way that clearly meant he was not happy with this story. “Because I had a terrible father too. And I never wanted to take over a city. So I’ve been going with he’s a dickwad who will never be worth the effort.”

“That’s probably a good assumption,” Janus muttered, passing the notebook back to Anxiety. “So do we have anything to do before Rosasnna finds out who our allies are?”

“Not really. There’s not much we can do as just the two of us, anyway. That’s the whole point of this elaborate plan.”

Janus nodded. “Alright. So… what are we supposed to do before you have to go back, then?”

There was a couple moments of silence while neither of them came up with anything.

“…We could talk about our kids?” Anxiety suggested eventually.

Janus shrugged. “Yeah, okay.”

Seeing as Janus now trusted Anxiety way too much, and he didn’t lie when he said he wouldn’t tell anyone, Janus ended up filling him in on Roman’s issues with his power as of late, which for some reason Anxiety found amusing.

“See, this is why you find yourself a kid whose superpower is literally being lucky, you get to skip all that,” he said. Janus could hear the smirk in his voice, and glared back, though Anxiety couldn’t see that.

“Well, we can’t all have a Remus, can we?”

Anxiety chuckled a little bit and mumbled something that sounded like “I wish,” though that didn’t make much sense in the context. Before Janus could ask what he meant, Anxiety spoke up again.

“You know,” he said. “I bet Remus could help with that.”

“Well, probably,” Janus said with a shrug. “But again, you can’t bring him there.”

“Maybe not,” Anxiety said thoughtfully. “But I have an idea.” He pulled out his phone and appeared to text someone, then turned back to Janus. “Okay, give that a minute. I asked Remus if he has any ideas as to what you could try.”

“You asked Remus specifically?” Janus asked, raising an eyebrow. “No offense, but you don’t think there’s probably someone else in that building who might be more helpful than a kid?”

“Well, I could always ask Scott, but that’s not really the point of this.”

“What’s the point?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Janus sighed. “You know, for some reason I thought working together would mean you’d share a little bit more with me.”

“I don’t know what gave you that idea. Hey, how does Roman feel about Disney?”

“He adores it. Why?”

“Just curious,” Anxiety said, glancing down at his phone. “Remus loves it too. He likes the weirder ones though, I’d imagine that’s not Roman’s thing.” He glanced back up. “Remus says scare him.”

“Huh?”

“He says you should try and scare him into making the illusions disappear. That at this point he probably doesn’t recognize that he’s still technically the reason they’re there, and if you scare him enough it could be a shock to his system that helps him regain enough control to get rid of them. Uh… some of that was probably Rosanna’s knowledge. But still.”

Janus considered the idea for a moment. The more he thought about it, the more something like that seemed like it could work. Roman had been able to make things appear and shift better lately, and he could make  _ those _ illusions disappear easily enough. Maybe he really did just need a reminder that it was his power causing the other illusions too.

“Okay,” Janus mused. “I’ll try that.”

…

It wasn’t very hard to scare Roman, to be honest. He hated the dark, and Anxiety was right about him not enjoying the weirder Disney movies, and according to Logan and Patton, he’d been having some nightmares lately about losing people he loved. (That last part was definitely concerning. Janus wasn’t quite sure where it had come from, but he was keeping an eye on it.)

Point is, it wasn’t hard to scare Roman, but that didn’t mean it was something Janus wanted to do on purpose. He’d spent most of the morning trying to come up with a way to scare him without actually scaring him. For the record, yes, he knew that he was being ridiculous, and that that wasn’t actually possible.

Eventually he decided on something simple, and that he was just going to walk up behind Roman and try and spook him by yelling. He told both Logan and Patton about the idea, and they both said it sounded like it might work. Janus waited until Roman was alone, sitting on the couch in the middle of writing a story, before he walked up behind him. He made sure Roman didn’t know he was there before jumping forward, grabbing his shoulders, and giving a short shout.

Roman screeched and whirled around, all but falling off the couch, and Janus caught him by the arm.

“Hey, what was that for?” Roman cried. Janus just grinned at him. “What?”

Janus gestured around to where large patches of fire had been surrounding the living room just a couple seconds ago, and where empty spaces had now taken their place.

“Wha— what did you do?”

“Shock to the system,” Janus said, walking around the couch and sitting down. “I got the idea from… a friend. Thought I’d try it out. It seems to have worked. Can you try out your powers?”

Roman looked around for a moment and concentrated, and the fires from before reappeared, then disappeared, then reappeared again. Roman made them vanish one more time before turning to grin at Janus. “I did it! I mean, it was harder than usual, but I still did it!”

“Great job,” Janus said, beaming, before he pulled Roman into a hug. “I’m proud of you.”

“Did you have to scare me to do it?” Roman asked, crossing his arms and pouting a little.

“Hey, it worked,” Janus pointed out, ruffling his hair. “And that means you get to go back to school tomorrow.”

_ “Finally! _ It’s so  _ boring _ here with no one around!”

Janus raised his eyebrows. “And I’m chop liver I suppose?”

“You’re an adult. All adults are at least a little boring,” Roman said, smirking in a way that meant teasing.

“I am deeply wounded. You’ll have to make it up to me by going to tell your fathers of this development.”

Roman lit up. “Oh, yeah! Where are they?”

“They’re upstairs. I told them I was trying this so they went to their room to read until I was done.”

“You all deceived me, my trust has been broken!” Roman declared dramatically as he started for the stairs. Janus moved after him, shaking his head with a smile. Roman stopped with his slow dramatic movements a second later and jogged up the stairs.

Janus regretted for the first time not getting Anxiety’s phone number, as now he’d have to wait until that night to tell him that Remus’ idea had worked, but for now he supposed he could be satisfied with celebrating with the rest of his family.

He entered Logan and Patton’s room to find everyone excitedly congratulating Roman.

“I think this calls for a celebration!” Patton called. “Roman, do you want to go out to dinner?”

“Yes!” Roman called happily. “I can leave the house again!”

“Where do you want to go?” Logan asked.

“Oh, oh!” Roman ran out of the room and across the hall, reappearing a second later with his phone. “I’ve been researching fun places, and I found this restaurant that’s supposed to be haunted!”

Janus winced, but did his best to shake off his discomfort as Roman continued to go on about how great this place sounded.

“Well, it sounds like fun, kiddo, but honestly this doesn’t really seem like your thing,” Patton said, giving Roman a slightly confused smile.

“Oh, yeah, I know. I thought…” Roman trailed off, and looked down at the ground in thought.

“You thought what?” Logan asked.

“Well, I thought… I thought someone would like it,” Roman said, biting his lip. “I don’t remember.”

“I… went there on a date with Virgil,” Janus said hesitantly. “Is that maybe where you heard of it from?”

Roman’s eyes widened as he turned to look at him. “Oh no, you went there with Virgil? I’m sorry, I didn’t know that. We don’t have to go if—”

“No, this is for you. It’s your celebration, so if that’s where you want to go, that’s where we’ll go,” Janus said.

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

Roman started smiling again. “Okay. Thanks Uncle Janus. For this and for helping with my power.”

“It was my pleasure,” Janus said, ruffling Roman’s hair one more time. “Now I think you should go get ready.”

“Yeah, okay!” Roman called happily, running from the room, probably to put some different clothes on and grab his writing from downstairs.

“Are you certain you’ll be alright?” Logan asked, laying a hand on Janus’ arm.

“Of course. I meant what I said, this is for Roman. If he wants to go, we’ll go.”

“Okay,” Patton said, smiling at him. “I’m glad your friend’s idea worked. Who are they, anyway?”

“Oh, just a work friend.”

“And they have a superpower?” Logan asked in surprise.

“Yeah. He’s shy around new people, so I don’t think he’ll want to meet you yet, though.”

Patton and Logan exchanged a glance.

“What?” Janus asked.

They both looked back at him.

“No,” Janus realized. “Don’t give me that look, I am not crushing on him.”

“I’m just saying, you have a tendency to rebound,” Patton said, holding out his hands. “Just be careful, alright?”

“When am I not? Come on, let’s go eat at a restaurant that will definitely be reminding me of my ex boyfriend all night.”


	20. Chapter 20

Remus was already watching in anticipation as Virgil walked through the door. “Well?”

Virgil nodded. “Super kid’s power is super fixed.”

“Yay, that joke was terrible!” Remus called, jumping up happily from the couch.

“Well, look who’s turning into a regular Scott,” Karli said from her spot next to him. “You sure being around him isn’t making his power rub off?”

“How would that even work?” Remus pointed out with a deadpan look. “Don’t take away from my genius.”

“Oh, never,” Karli said with a smile as she stood. “Well, I hate to immediately dash, but I have an early day tomorrow.”

“Oh no, please, go,” Virgil said. “Thanks for staying as long as you have.”

“Not a problem,” Karli said with a wave as she headed out. Virgil turned back to Remus, who was dancing happily in the center of the room.

“Alright, Mr. Genius, come on, it’s way past your bedtime.”

“I’m twelve years old,” Remus said, crossing his arms.

“And late for bedtime, let’s go.”

Remus stuck his tongue out even as he started for the bedroom. Virgil waited until he called that he was done changing before going in to grab his own pajamas and heading into the bathroom to change into them.

Virgil hadn’t stopped sleeping in the same bed with Remus since the night after what had happened with Diggory, when he’d tried to sleep on the couch and woken up to Remus tugging on his sleeve, whispering about a nightmare and obviously trying to hide the tears in his eyes.

Virgil headed back out into the bedroom to find Remus flipping through streaming platforms on the TV.

“Hey, that doesn’t look like bedtime.”

“One movie first?”

“You can watch a short film.”

“Deal!”

Remus ended up watching Mater and the Ghostlight, which Virgil thought was an alright choice until he ended up complaining the whole time about how it would have been cooler if the ghost light was actually real.

“I think you’re missing the point of the short film,” Virgil said with a smile.

“I would have written it better,” Remus said, crossing his arms.

“I’m sure you would have,” Virgil said with a roll of his eyes. The short movie ended, and thankfully Remus didn’t argue anymore. He turned off the TV and rolled over in the bed, tucking himself into his favorite spot under Virgil’s arm. Virgil pulled Remus close and closed his eyes, and was about to fall asleep when Remus spoke up.

“Virgil?”

“Mmm.”

“What did Janus say about the kid with the illusion powers?”

Virgil forced his eyes open again and blinked at Remus. “What do you want to know?”

“Everything,” Remus whispered.

Virgil raised an eyebrow. “Everything? I don’t think I can help you there, bud.”

“Everything you know. I— I’ve never heard of another kid with powers before. I mean, I guess I wouldn’t have had a chance to, but… yeah. Yeah, that’s the reason.”

Virgil recognized the tone of voice when you were trying to convince yourself of something, but he didn’t comment on it. He couldn’t tell Remus what he actually wanted to anyway.

Virgil pushed himself up on his elbows so he didn’t fall asleep while he was talking and looked down at Remus. “His name’s Roman,” he said. “Janus calls him his nephew, but it’s more of an honorary title. They’re not actually related. He’s Patton and Logan’s kid. Morality and Logic?”

Remus nodded.

“He can create illusions, yeah. He was having trouble with his power, which happens to most kids around the start of adolescence. You get to skip that stage, just because of what your power is.”

“Sweet.”

Virgil didn’t want to share too much else, because that was all Janus had told him and he wasn’t supposed to tell Remus that he knew anything about his family. Remus spoke up again a second later, though.

“Janus said his power’s fixed, right?”

“Yeah. Your idea worked,” Virgil said, nudging Remus in a way that he hoped communicated that he was proud, because he was.

“Okay,” Remus whispered.

Virgil turned and laid on his side again to face Remus better. “What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking I’m glad I got to help the Roman kid figure his power out,” Remus said. “Thanks for asking me for ideas.”

Virgil swallowed the lump in his throat that definitely wasn’t there and squeezed Remus in a half-a-second hug. “Thanks for having such amazing ones.”

Remus didn’t say anything to that, but Virgil was pretty sure he was smiling. He didn’t say anything else before Virgil fell asleep.

…

Rosanna had made impressive amounts of progress even for her. By the time Virgil and Remus made it down to the lab the next day, she said she had less than a hundred people less to sort through, and that the numbers were looking good for people who had morals.

Virgil spent most of the morning with Remus, in training, accompanied with Scott and Diggory, the former of who looked much more uncomfortable than the previous time and the latter who looked smug in a way that made Virgil want to break his nose.

Remus spent most of the morning breathing a little too quickly, and when Diggory told them to go look at Janus’ brain scans again, Virgil had to help him through a panic attack in the elevator on the way there. He at least seemed calmer by the time they got there, and he seemed to brighten up when he saw Rosanna. They must have had fun when she watched him a few nights ago.

“Okay,” Rosanna said as they sat down. “So I have good news and bad news.”

“Awesome,” Virgil said. “Let’s at least start this on a positive note. What’s the good news?”

“There are far more people working for Diggory who don’t want to.”

“And the bad news?”

“Most of the people who want to have the higher up positions and access to files we might need.”

“Okay,” Remus said. “But we have Virgil. Virgil’s third in command.”

“I don’t have access to everything, though,” Virgil admitted. “Diggory knows I would get the hell out if I had any choice. He keeps things from me that he doesn’t keep from other people.”

Remus huffed and crossed his arms. Virgil chuckled. “Yeah, I know,” he said, ruffling his hair. “We knew this wasn’t going to be easy.”

“I still have some people left to go through,” Rosanna said. “I’ll do that if you two look over these scans again.”

“I don’t know anything about what I’m looking at,” Virgil said.

“I know. Just look busy. It makes you look good if anyone walks in, and it helps me focus.”

Virgil shrugged and pulled the scans over, looking at them as Remus peered over his shoulder. “What’s the lit up part?” he whispered.

“That’s the hippocampus,” Virgil said back. “It’s the main part of his brain we’re dealing with.”

“Hey, maybe if I run it through the scanner I can use my power to see if it’ll tell us more.”

Virgil glanced over at the scanner in the corner of the room. He shrugged and waved Remus on. “Go for it.”

“Hit the third black button on the right, everything else should be set up already,” Rosanna called absentmindedly as she kept typing on her computer.

Remus did that, and the machine lit up and started to whir. Virgil walked over to stand next to him and they waited for about thirty seconds before something printed out at the other end. Remus walked over and grabbed it.

“Cool!” he called. “I have no idea what this means!”

“I’ll look at it later,” Rosanna called. “But you can come compare them if you want to.”

They both headed back over to the table and lined up the two brain scans side by side. There weren’t any obvious differences, but Virgil couldn’t imagine they would have been able to tell what they meant even if there were.

It took Rosanna another half hour or so to look through all of the people left, and she didn’t look very happy as she turned to face Virgil and Remus again.

“Diggory knows what he’s doing,” she said with disappointment. “All of the people most likely to help us are janitors or repairmen. They’ll be super helpful during any kind of potential battle if we need to know how to get around the physical building without getting caught, but they don’t have a ton of resources to get us to a place where we would be able to have that potential battle.”

“How much do you know again?” Remus asked, turning to Virgil and looking about as hopeless as Virgil was starting to feel.

“Hey, it’s not hopeless,” Rosanna said. “I’ll start spreading the word of what we’re trying and see what everyone knows. Maybe we can do more than we think.”

“Maybe,” Virgil muttered. He was about to say something else when the door opened on the other side of the lab and Scott walked in.

Virgil grabbed Remus’ hand, as he could tell he was about to panic and do something that made it clear they weren’t doing what they were supposed to. But Scott had no reason to believe that what Rosanna was doing wasn’t necessary for looking at Janus’ brain.

“Hey Scott,” he called, casually moving the pictures from the brain scan together and passing them to Rosanna to make it look like they were wrapping up, so she had a reason to shut off her computer. “We were just about to go get something to eat, you want to join?”

Scott walked across the room and stopped in front of Virgil. “You’re trying to take down Diggory,” he said.

Okay, now Remus could panic and try to cover up what they were doing.

“What are you talking about?” Virgil asked, trying to sound as surprised as he could manage. “Why would I do something like that?”

“Because of what Diggory did to Remus,” Scott said plainly, and Remus froze. Virgil squeezed Remus’ hand.

“Scott, I don’t like what happened to Remus,” Virgil said, and wow, understatement of the century. “But I assure you—”

“I want to help.”

Well, now Virgil was speechless.

“What?” Rosanna asked.

“It’s not— look, I know I’ve made a lot of excuses for Diggory,” Scott said, rubbing the back of his neck. “But I’m not going to let something like this slide. Remus could not have possibly done anything to warrant treatment like that— frankly, I don’t think anyone can do anything that could warrant treatment like that.”

Virgil wondered for the first time if Scott knew how often Diggory had beaten him up after a failed mission.

“So I want to help,” Scott continued. “I don’t think—” he sighed. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately, and… I don’t want to work with someone who treats people like that. I don’t know what I’ll do after, but… I want to help you stop what Diggory’s trying to do.”

Everyone stared at Scott for a moment. He seemed to be able to handle a couple seconds of that before he ducked his head and started to fidget with his fingers.

“Are you sure?” Virgil asked hesitantly.

“Yes,” Scott said, looking up at him. “I’m sure.”

Remus leaned over and tapped Virgil on the shoulder. “Are we supposed to trust him now?” he whispered in his ear.

Virgil glanced over at Remus. That was a good question. Scott could easily have been trying to double cross them at Diggory’s orders.

“I’m… not so sure we can trust you,” Virgil admitted hesitantly.

“I understand that,” Scott said. “I won’t ask for any details of anything you’re trying to do. Just let me know of any knowledge you need and I’ll get it for you. Or don’t. Just take it as an offer. I’ll help in any way I can.”

He seemed to consider his point made with that, because he turned and headed back out.

There was another couple seconds of silence before Rosanna turned on her computer again. “Well… that certainly changes things,” she said.

“Seriously, how do we know we can trust him?” Remus asked.

“We don’t,” Virgil said. “But we might have to risk it anyway.” He glanced at Rosanna. “I say we take him up on the offer he gave. Ask him of anything we need to know.”

“He’ll know it,” Rosanna said with a nod. “I think if—”

“Wait.” Virgil slammed his hands on the table and stood up. “I have a better idea.”

…

Janus was already there when the two of them arrived, and he looked pretty surprised to see a second person.

“Anxiety, who’s this?” he asked. “I thought no one was supposed to come to these meetings except us?”

“They’re not. How do you feel about being a human lie detector?”

“Um… it feels a little dehumanizing, despite ‘human’ being part of that phrase.”

“Fair enough. It should be just once, though. This is Scott, I think I’ve mentioned him before. He’s claiming to want to help, but he’s also second in command to Diggory, so if we want to trust him…”

“Ah, okay,” Janus said with a nod of understanding. He turned to Scott. “You mind giving your proclamation to someone who can quite literally always tell when you’re lying?”

“I don’t mind,” Scott said, and repeated what he’d told them in the lab that afternoon. Janus watched him the whole time, and turned to Virgil afterwards with a nod.

“He’s not lying. He says he wants to help, he means it.”

Virgil turned to Scott with a smile of his own, not that Scott could see. “Well then thanks for the offer, Scott. Sorry for doubting you.”

“It’s alright,” Scott said. “I would have too.”

“Well, now that you’re done spending time with me solely for the use of my power,” Janus said in a way that didn’t seem at all offended, “is there anything else we need to talk about?”

“Well, we had Remus try and run your brain scan while using his power to see if anything else comes up. Rosanna’s gonna check that tomorrow.”

“Not a bad plan,” Janus said. “By the way, what are you going to do if you do find a way to use your power on me? You know, other than lie about the fact that you’ve figured it out.”

“What do you mean? What else would we need to do?”

“Well, I would like to know what you plan to erase if it happens to come to that. I’d also like to know if it’s safe for Patton and Logan to return those memories,” Janus said, crossing his arms. “When this is all over and if we’ve won, if nothing else.”

Virgil stilled. “Oh. Yeah. You’d probably want to do that, huh?”

Virgil could  _ sense _ Janus narrowing his eyes. “Anxiety, you can’t just continue to keep my own memories from me. I understand it might not be safe for me to try and get them back right now, but—”

“I’m not going to keep them from you,” Virgil interrupted. “Just… thinking about something else.”

“Thinking about what?”

“I’ll ask Rosanna to look into that,” Virgil said, completely ignoring the question. He pulled out his phone a second later and glanced down at it. “Oh, look, Remus just texted me. Rosanna has to get home, she has an early day tomorrow.”

“For fucks sake, I can tell when  _ you’re _ lying too—”

“See you tomorrow!” Virgil called, grabbing Scott to pull him out to their motorcycles with him.

Virgil started driving away too quickly for Scott to get a word out, but he drove fast enough to make it back home at the same time Virgil did and caught him on his way to the stairs.

“What were you thinking about?” Scott asked.

“Nothing, Scott.”

“Just because I’m not Janus doesn’t mean I can’t tell when you’re lying, Virgil.”

Virgil sighed and pulled open the door to the stairwell. “I’m just planning where I’ll be going after Janus gets all his memories back.”

“Where you’ll be going?”

“Well, I can’t stay here. I’ll probably have to leave the city.” They both started up the steps in silence, and Virgil was about to open the door to his floor when Scott stopped behind him. Virgil turned to look at him.

“Do you really think that’s what he’d want?”

“I erased all his memories of me without asking him, used knowledge of him he didn’t know I had to date him without telling him anything about our previous friendship, then broke up with him out of nowhere, and kidnapped his nephew to top it all off. Trust me, he would want me gone. He just doesn’t remember enough to want it yet. I’m just trying to prevent him from having to ask me to leave directly by picking a place to go ahead of time, alright?” With that, Virgil reached for the door and stepped out into the hallway.


	21. Chapter 21

Janus definitely should not have fixed Roman’s power, because now he couldn’t stop panicking that wherever he was, a potential murderer was stalking him, despite Anxiety’s assurances that no one was, yet, and his remarks of “Dude, worst case scenarios are my thing. Don’t steal my thing.”

Regardless of reassurances, however, Janus had to force himself on multiple occasions not to ask Patton or Logan if Roman was safe, lest he be interrupted by cartoon logic again. It got to the point that he was almost looking forward to seeing Anxiety, just so he could make sure that his nephew was safe.

Yeah, that was definitely the only reason he was starting to look forward to it. No one could prove otherwise.

Well, except maybe Anxiety, but Janus could easily deny it. Who was going to believe a supervillain anyway (albeit a regretful one)?

There was one part about meeting with Anxiety that he definitely didn’t look forward to, however, and that was the cold. Granted, it’s not like there was much he could do about that. They were both in costume, and while Anxiety knew who he was, he still didn’t know the reverse, so they couldn’t go anywhere indoors that would risk revealing anything to Janus or any other civilians. Janus usually wore enough layers of clothes under his costume to make sure he’d be warm, which made weird bulks under his costume at times, but that was another thing that couldn’t be helped.

The other part that was annoying about meeting with Anxiety was the fact that they had to do so among abandoned rubble. But that part, at least, they could do something about.

“Let’s go somewhere,” Janus said as Anxiety climbed off his motorcycle.

“Uh… what?”

“Let’s go somewhere else. I’m sick of this place. We could have a much better time talking while we’re driving around the city.”

“Gonna be kind of hard to do that on the back of a motorcycle,” Anxiety pointed out. “And I doubt you’ll want me to ride in your car.”

Janus sighed, because he had a point there. “Well, I don’t want to stay here anymore.” He gave it a second of thought. “How do you feel about going to a park? I know a really good one about fifteen minutes away.”

Anxiety didn’t move. “A park?”

“Yeah. I’ll give you directions.”

Anxiety didn’t say anything else, and Janus sighed. “You can’t seriously want to spend another night here.”

“It’s not… that bad.”

“That’s a blatant lie.”

Anxiety sighed and rubbed at the back of his neck. “Alright. Park. Let’s go.”

So Janus took them both to the park he’d gone to with Virgil. He wasn’t going to say it had fantastic feelings attached to it, at least not anymore, but it was a nice park, and he eventually wanted to be able to bring Roman to ice skate without thinking about Virgil the whole time they would be there.

…Maybe connecting the park with Roman’s potential murderer wouldn’t be a huge upgrade, but it was too late now.

Anxiety seemed to know the park well, as once they arrived he immediately started for the main path around the edge of the park. Janus followed him and was glad he’d become so good at ignoring stares when he was in costume, as some people were still in the park and were definitely very fascinated by both him and the new (probably unknown?) person in costume next to him.

It wasn’t nearly as pretty during the day as it was at night, in Janus’ opinion. There wasn’t a ton of obvious trash as there was in the daytime, and if there was snow it seemed to light up. One of the few good things about winter, he supposed. But of course there wasn’t any snow tonight so he could continue to hate the whole season.

“So, anything we need to talk about?” Janus asked in a low voice so no one could hear, although no one was around at the moment.

“Well, Remus’ power let us figure out a way to fix your brain, but it doesn’t really help us.”

“How does that work exactly?”

“What Rosanna figured out is that Logan and Patton should be able to just return your memories and get rid of any adverse affects my power would have on you, but, you know…”

“I am physically unable to tell them what’s happening,” Janus said with a nod.

“Yeah,” Anxiety said. “So it doesn’t really change our plan, just lets you get your memories back easier if we succeed.”

“Wonderful,” Janus muttered. Anxiety didn’t reply, and they both kept walking in silence for a while. He started to think of the last time he had come here, with Virgil. Janus was just as surprised with how much and how easily he missed him as he’d been with how quickly he grew to care about him. He glanced over at Anxiety.

That was a massively different situation, but somehow the emotions were the same. He had all but despised Anxiety when he met him, but it had only taken a couple meetings for him to learn what kind of person Anxiety really was, and how much he hated his situation and wanted to improve it.

“Anxiety,” Janus said hesitantly. “Can I ask you something?”

“Oh, have we moved on to the small talk phase of our relationship? I’m thrilled.”

“This isn’t a small talk question.”

“Oh?”

Janus was about to ask when a cold breeze blew and he hissed out a curse, proceeding to rub at his arms as an attempt to warm himself up. He could hear Anxiety chuckle as he did so and shot a glare at him that he wouldn’t be able to see.

“Aww, is the cold blooded snake not a fan of winter?”

“Who the hell are you calling a snake? You’re the one double-crossing your boss,” Janus grumbled.

“With good reason,” Anxiety said, crossing his arms. “And I was talking about your costume, dumbass.” He poked one of the snakes that he could reach on Janus’ shoulder.

Janus grumbled something else and continued to rub his arms as they kept walking.

“So what not-small-talk thing did you want to ask me?” Anxiety asked after a second.

“How did you come to work for Diggory?” Janus asked slowly.

Anxiety stopped walking, and Janus did the same a second later, turning back slightly to see him. “You don’t have to tell me. You just seem like the absolute last person who would work for Diggory by choice. But you’re also his third in command. I’m just curious.”

Anxiety didn’t say anything for a second. Then he started walking again, and Janus followed. He seemed more like he was trying to come to a decision than irritated by Janus’ question, so he decided not to break the silence until he was ready.

“You’re right,” Anxiety said finally. “I didn’t start working for Diggory by choice.”

He clearly wasn’t going to stop there, so Janus didn’t say anything else yet. But they made it almost to the halfway point around the park before Anxiety spoke again.

“When I was seventeen,” he said softly. “Diggory transferred to my school and threatened to murder my best friend and my mother.”

Well _whatever_ Janus had been expecting him to say, it certainly wasn’t that. “He… he did _what?”_

“Diggory is a metallokinetic,” Anxiety said. “He can control metal, or the metal inside of things. I’m not sure if you realize how much shit has metal in it until every bit of it is a potential murder weapon.”

Janus didn’t know what the hell he was supposed to say to that. It sounded like a nightmare. It was a nightmare for him now when he had to worry about Roman being killed, and that kid had two superpowered parents looking after him. To have to worry about something like that all alone, as a seventeen year old?

Anxiety apparently wasn’t done. “Diggory started out just by blackmailing me. You know, I do what he wants, he doesn’t murder y— anyone. I think his goal with that was just to make me miserable by helping him cheat on tests and forcing me to be a dick to freshmen, because he could have accomplished what he actually wanted to at any time.”

“…Which was?” Janus asked hesitantly.

“To get me to leave with him,” Anxiety said. “So we could all start working on his plans, which eventually led to this.” He waved vaguely around them.

“God,” Janus muttered, shaking his head. “Anxiety, I’m so sorry. You just left and you haven’t seen them since?”

“I wish it was that easy,” Anxiety muttered. Janus turned to look at him.

“Why wasn’t it that easy?” He asked gently. _“How_ is that easy?”

Anxiety sighed. “If I just vanished people would have looked for me. And if they did that Diggory could have killed them. I had to keep them safe. So I… I erased their memories of me.”

Janus felt his heart break. “Anxiety.”

“Well, what was I supposed to do,” Anxiety snapped, suddenly sounding much more angry, like he had to defend his actions. “It’s not like I could just let them _die!”_

“No one said you should,” Janus said softly.

“I— I wasn’t just going to— how was I supposed to let them keep remembering me, when I knew how much danger that put them in?! How was I supposed to live with myself knowing they could die because of me? Janus—”

“Anxiety, I’m not arguing with you.”

“I’m sorry, okay?” Anxiety wrapped his arms around himself and tried to dig his nails into them, though Janus couldn’t tell how well it was actually working through the costume. “Look I know it— it’s awful and if they ever found out they would hate me and I hate me too—”

“Woah, hey!” Janus grabbed at Anxiety’s hands and pulled them into the space between them, turning Anxiety to face him. “That’s understandable. Hell, Anxiety, that’s honorable. That’s a huge sacrifice for you to make. I can’t think of anything else you could do in that situation. You did the best you could and saved your mother and your friend’s life in the process.”

“But they’d hate me,” Anxiety whispered, pulling his hands away. “If they knew. Diggory said they would.”

“And since when is Diggory right about anything, ever?” Janus said, crossing his arms. _“Fuck_ Diggory.”

Anxiety looked down. “But he has to be right,” he whispered. “I— I just—”

“You actually believe him?” Janus asked, growing concerned.

Anxiety didn’t say anything for a moment. “Diggory’s good with words,” he muttered finally. Janus paused, because there was a secret there too. So Diggory wasn’t the only reason he believed that? Maybe Anxiety was just as good at Diggory as coming up with reasons to hate himself.

“Diggory is wrong regardless,” Janus said, taking Anxiety’s hands again. “And you know what, if your friend and your mom do end up hating you, then they suck too.”

Anxiety chuckled, bit it sounded much too sad to really count as one. “You can take that back if you want,” he muttered. “I wouldn’t hold it against you.”

“I’m not taking that back. Anxiety, you… you are a truly strange individual.”

Anxiety glanced up at him. “Gee, thanks.”

“I hated you when I met you,” Janus continued, and he felt Anxiety flinch, but he kept going. “I thought you were a dickhead who wanted to take over the city and didn’t care about anyone around him. But we both saw just how quickly that idea fell apart. You know what I think of you now?”

Anxiety looked up, and Janus could practically feel the hesitation coming from him. “Do I want to?” he whispered.

“I think you’re a wonderful person in a terrible situation,” Janus said. “Who has gotten so much less out of life than he deserves, and who cares so deeply about the people around him and is just doing his best to protect the ones he cares about.”

“You’re lying,” Anxiety said. He tried to pull his hands back but Janus just held on tighter.

“I’m not,” he said. “I promise.”

“Don’t make promises,” Anxiety muttered. “They’re too easy to break.”

“I won’t break this one. I mean it.”

Anxiety looked up at him, and Janus remembered once again that he had never actually seen this person’s face, because he had no idea if he was actually looking into his eyes or not.

“You… you do?” Anxiety whispered gently, taking a step closer.

Janus nodded, taking another one. He stopped when he realized they were much closer than they probably should have been, especially considering there could be other people around to see them this close.

“Can I…” Anxiety started, then stopped.

“What?”

“Can I kiss you?”

_That’s a terrible idea,_ Janus thought as he nodded.

Anxiety pulled the bottom of his mask up to the space right below his nose and let it rest there. He leaned forward to do the same to Janus, but held on to his mask as he brought their lips gently together.

Janus continued to hold onto Anxiety’s other hand and intertwined their fingers.

_You taste like Virgil._

_How the hell can two different people taste exactly the same?_

_Patton’s right about me, I do rebound._

_I am so fucked._


	22. Chapter 22

Virgil normally woke Remus up instead of the other way around, so he figured something was probably wrong when he pried his eyes open to Remus shaking his shoulder.

“Remus?” he mumbled, rolling over. “What time is it?”

“It’s five in the morning,” Remus whispered. “Diggory’s in the kitchen.”

Virgil woke up pretty quickly after that and sat up in bed. “Did he hurt you?”

Remus shook his head. “I didn’t go in, I don’t think he saw me.”

Virgil threw the covers back and climbed out of the bed. “Stay here,” he said to Remus, and started for the kitchen.

Diggory was leaning casually back against the island. “You should be up by now.”

Virgil didn’t reply. Anything he said would just piss Diggory off more.

“You left the building last night,” Diggory said, raising an eyebrow. “When you met with Janus.”

“Sorry.”

“You should be.” Diggory uncrossed his arms and took a step forward. Virgil took a step back. “What is your progress with your power and Janus? I’m getting sick of waiting on you and Rosanna.”

“We don’t have a frame of reference for figuring anything like this out,” Virgil said hesitantly. “We’re moving as fast as we can—”

Virgil had been smacked too many times to be surprised by the sting. He managed to hold back a flinch.

“You’re not moving fast enough,” Diggory snapped. He glared over at the bedroom.  _ “REMUS!” _

Virgil tensed as Remus sprinted in from the other room. He grabbed for Virgil’s hand, and Virgil took it and squeezed, trying not to focus on the way they were both shaking.

“You are both going to fight the heroes tomorrow,” Diggory said, crossing his arms.

“But Janus still—” Remus started.

“Janus is affected by your power and can’t do anything anyway,” Diggory said. “You should have progressed enough by this point that you’re able to use your powers in multiple ways at once. If not, get ready to do so by tomorrow. Fail me again,” Diggory narrowed his eyes. “And you will both regret it, understand?”

Remus ducked behind Virgil. Virgil nodded. “Understood,” he said quietly.

“Good. Be down at training in ten minutes.”

With that, Diggory stalked off.

Neither of them moved until the door closed, after which Remus scoffed and kicked at the ground. “It’s five in the fucking morning,” he grumbled. “I hate him so much.”

“Me too,” Virgil said. “Go on, go get dressed while I get us something to eat on the way down.”

“Granola bar, please,” Remus said, as he turned to head back to the bedroom. Virgil waved to acknowledge he’d heard and headed into the kitchen.

That was a different problem he hadn’t considered. Dragging his feet with Janus and Rosanna specifically had kept Remus from getting hurt until now, but if something went wrong at the battle tomorrow, Diggory would definitely take it out on him. There had to be a way around that. And if not, Virgil would build one with his bare hands.

And he had an entire day to do it. This would be a piece of cake. He could definitely pull this off.

…It was a good thing Janus wasn’t there to hear that.

…

“We have to make you look smarter than you are,” Virgil said as soon as Janus walked in through the door.

“Um. What? Should I be offended?”

“The first part of the plan worked. Diggory is having us pretend Karli is a hostage tomorrow and keep her just long enough to get your attention. I have the details here,” he waved the notebook he’d been using for important things. “I’ll leave it with you. But he’s riding on Remus to make sure everything goes perfectly, so when Remus stops using his power on you he’s… not going to take it well. We can make it look like an accident, but that won’t be enough to keep him from getting mad. So we have to make you look like you figured out what was going on and came up with an actual plan yourself to stop Remus from affecting you.”

“So what do we do?” Janus asked, taking the notebook from him and starting to flip through it.

“You’re going to absolutely hate it.”

“I hate most things involved with Diggory.”

“No, I mean, you’re going to… you’re going to  _ hate it.” _

“Well go ahead and tell me then so I actually have something to hate,” Janus said, sounding more than a little exasperated.

Virgil sighed and crossed his arms. “We gotta use Roman.”

“Absolutely not.”

“I knew you would say that,” he said with a sigh. “Just listen.”

“I’m not putting my honorary nephew in more danger than he’s already in.”

“I’m trying to save y—  _ my _ honorary nephew. Look, I don’t want to do this either, but—” Virgil took a breath. “Roman can make you look like me and me like you, you jump in front of Remus as he’s pretending to shoot off an attack, and turn and ask him to undo it, which is when he stops using his power on you. It makes it look like intentional planning and misleading on your part, not Remus screwing up. Roman doesn’t have to be anywhere near the actual fighting, he just has to be close enough to make you look like me for an extended period of time.”

“His power is still not at full strength, Anxiety. That makes that distance much closer than it would be.”

“I know it’s dangerous, but I’m trying to keep Remus safe. Janus, if there was another option, I’d do that instead, but there’s not. I had a whole day to think of a plan and this is what I came up with.”

Janus took a breath and pinched at the area his nose would be if he wasn’t wearing a mask. “So I should put Roman in danger to help Remus?”

“Remus would do the same thing,” Virgil said firmly.

“How could you know that?”

_ Because that’s what you told me. Because he’s done it already. _

Virgil took a deep breath, and for a second, considered telling Janus everything about Remus. He would understand, probably. It would definitely explain a lot, and he was pretty sure Janus wouldn’t blame him, not after their conversation from last night.

But telling Janus about Remus would mean telling Janus how he knew he mattered so much to him. It would mean telling him how he’d learned so much information that even Scott didn’t know. It would mean telling Janus that he was  _ Virgil. _ And…

He can’t. Maybe, just maybe, Janus wouldn’t hate him, but he would have questions, questions Virgil didn’t want to answer, didn’t have  _ time _ to answer, questions that would jeopardize everyone coming out of tomorrow safely.

“Because he idolizes this kid,” Virgil said instead. “Remus wants nothing more than to have a family full of people like him. I would barely have to ask before he agreed to help Roman if he thought he could.  _ Please, _ Janus. We’re the only ones who can help him right now.”

Janus sighed and looked down at the notebook. He was quiet for too long before he raised his head again. “If he gets hurt, I will murder you.”

“I’ll let you.”

Janus looked down at the notebook again and sighed. “Run me through how this works.”

They spent the rest of the hour doing that. Janus left earlier than he normally would have to go back to the Sanders household and tell Roman what the plan was. Virgil had been anxious about Roman saying no, but Janus had said that if Roman thought he had a chance to be a hero, there was no way he wouldn’t take it. He’d sounded a little disgusted with himself as he said it. Virgil knew the feeling.

He returned home himself to tell Remus what was happening. They were planning to launch their strike on Diggory tomorrow too. Rosanna had informed everyone they needed to, and they had enough resources tomorrow to make this happen. The plan was for Janus to get the ability to tell Patton and Logan what was going on, and then do that pretty much immediately and have everyone regroup at their building, where the fight would probably already be happening.

Virgil had insisted both Rosanna and Karli go home and get some rest, and Remus was spending the night with Scott until Virgil got back. When he got there they were both sitting on the couch in the living room as Remus was animatedly explaining something to Scott, who looked a little queasy.

“Hey,” Virgil said as he approached. “What are you guys talking about?”

“I’m explaining to Scott what to do if he wants to start learning how to write smut,” Remus said, with a proud smile at Virgil.

Virgil turned to face him. “I am so sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Scott said, standing. “He can… write whatever he wants.”

Remus laughed in the way that meant he knew exactly how uncomfortable that kind of talk would make Scott. They were going to have to have a talk about that later.

“Okay, come on Remus, we need to get to bed,” Virgil said. “And I have some things to tell you about tomorrow.”

Remus hopped up, and Scott did the same, heading for the door. He was about halfway there when it opened and Diggory came through.

“Scott,” he said, as everyone else in the room froze. “I couldn’t find you anywhere.”

“Sorry, Diggory,” Scott said instantly. “Did you need me for something?”

“What are you doing here?”

“Just going over stuff for tomorrow,” Virgil cut in so Scott didn’t have to. “Sorry, we didn’t mean to keep him from you.”

“Don’t let it happen again,” Diggory said, waving a hand at Scott, who followed him back out the door looking nervous.

“Is he gonna be okay?” Remus asked.

“He’s Scott. He’s… he’s more used to this than any of us. He’ll be fine,” Virgil said, disliking the uncertainty in his voice as much as Remus clearly did.

“Okay,” Remus said, and they both started for the bedroom.

“So… what’s happening tomorrow?” Remus asked.

Virgil explained what they’d decided the plan would be, how he would fit into it, and what to do if something went wrong. Remus looked more than a little terrified by the time he finished, which Virgil didn’t blame him for.

“I’m going to be right there with you, okay?” he said. “The only thing you have to worry about is reversing your power on Janus. I’ll be watching out for everything else.”

Remus nodded. “Okay,” he whispered. He paused for a second. “Virgil?”

“Yeah?”

“If this goes well, will I… do you think I could learn who my family is?”

Virgil pulled Remus into a hug. “If this goes well you’re going to go back to them, Remus,” he whispered. “I’m going to do everything I can to make that happen.”

“You’re coming too, right?”

Virgil blinked in surprise and pulled back. “What?”

“You’re coming too, right?” Remus repeated, and Virgil was taken aback by how desperate he looked. “You’re my family too, Virgil. I don’t want to lose you.”

Virgil was speechless for a moment. That… that was something he hadn’t considered. He knew Janus would want him gone once he knew everything, and Logan, Patton, and Roman probably would when they learned he’d been the one to kidnap Remus, but somehow he’d forgotten to think about the fact that Remus and him had both grown to care very much for  _ each other, _ and it hadn’t just been him protecting Remus as best he could while Remus couldn’t care less.

“I… I don’t know if your family will want me around all the time, Remus,” Virgil said hesitantly.

“Then make them understand!” Remus exclaimed. “Virgil, please don’t leave! I’d miss you.”

“Remus…” Virgil sighed. He was about to say something else when Remus threw himself at him and squeezed him in an almost-too-tight hug.

“Please, Virgil?” he whispered. “Please stay?”

“I… can’t say I’ll stay all the time,” Virgil admitted finally. “But… I’ll visit, Remus. Even if that’s all.”

Remus looked up at Virgil, and didn’t appear anywhere near satisfied. “I’m still going to try and change your mind,” he murmured, before burying his face in Virgil’s chest again. “I want you to stay.”

“I… I know, Remus. There’s just some things about that that won’t work out. But I’m not leaving you forever. No… no matter what, I’ll still be part of your life in some way. Alright?”

“Okay,” Remus muttered, although he still didn’t sound happy with that. Virgil understood. Despite not really thinking about it, he did love Remus to death, and he would miss him when he had to leave. Remus wasn’t the only one who wished it could be different. Unfortunately for both of them, there wasn’t another choice. It would have to do.


	23. Chapter 23

“So that’s the idea,” Janus said, as Roman looked down at the kitchen table, appearing deep in thought. “But I want you to understand, if you don’t feel comfortable, you don’t have to do it.”

Roman looked up in surprise. “But you just said that—”

“I don’t care. If you don’t want to do it we’ll figure something else out.”

Roman looked down again and crossed his arms. “You said… you said this kid will be hurt if I don’t help.”

“We don’t know that for sure.”

Roman looked up at him. “Don’t soften it, Uncle Janus. They’d hurt him.”

Janus sighed. “Yes.”

Roman nodded, more to himself than to Janus. “Then I’ll do it. What does this guy look like?”

Janus pulled out his phone with the picture he’d taken and passed it to Roman. Roman looked at it for a second, and turned to Janus. A second later Janus looked down and found himself looking at Anxiety’s costume.

“Convincing?” Roman asked.

“It looks good,” Janus said, giving Roman a weak smile as the illusion faded. “Are you sure about this?”

“I’m sure, Uncle Janus. You guys need me for this to work. And this kid needs me to help protect him. I’ll do it.”

Janus nodded, feeling a bizarre mixture of pride and concern. “Okay,” he said. “That’s very brave of you, Roman.”

Roman smiled at him. “Thanks, Uncle Janus,” he said.

“Alright, it’s late,” Janus said. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

“See you tomorrow,” Roman said, running over to hug him before heading up the stairs. Janus waited until he was gone before he buried his head in his hands.

He very much had not wanted to do this. As if asking Roman to put himself in danger wasn’t enough, he was also lying to Patton and Logan about it. That meant it was going to be entirely up to him to make sure Roman was safe.

It had taken some serious twisting of his words to be able to explain to Roman what was happening without Remus’ power interrupting him. He’d ended up with the simplest explanation he could give: there was going to be a battle tomorrow, and in order to protect a kid on the other side, he would need Roman to make him look like this other person from the other side. He hadn’t shared Anxiety’s name, or Remus,’ or anything about how they met or how they knew them. He had managed to tell Roman about Remus’ power, and how that was preventing him from sharing all the information he knew. Roman had understood that. And just like Janus had suspected, he’d agreed to help the minute he learned there was someone in danger.

Janus had reassured him that he wouldn’t be anywhere near the fighting, not that that affected Roman’s decision in any way, which he had already expected would be how it went down. Since tomorrow was a school day, it would be easy for Janus to show up to drive Roman to school, then take him back to his house where they’d wait until Logan called with the hostage situation Anxiety had told him about. He would keep Roman hidden nearby, and had already picked the alleyway he would use based on the location Anxiety had written down in the notebook.

Janus eventually grabbed his keys and headed out to drive home. If he was going to be fighting a battle tomorrow, he needed to get some rest too.

Anxiety was probably right about this being the best way to protect Remus, but that didn’t mean Janus didn’t hate everything about it. He had offered before to help Anxiety protect Remus before, but it hadn’t involved putting Roman in danger. He wasn’t sure how he would ever forgive himself if Roman got as much as a papercut while he was at the fight tomorrow.

He supposed Anxiety felt the same way about Remus.

…

Roman had spent the morning practicing making Janus look like Anxiety from different distances away. They had gotten far enough apart that Janus could be sure the alleyway he’d picked would be an okay spot for him to stay in.

When Janus thought he was prepared and would be alright when they left, he turned on a Disney movie that he was pretty sure neither of them were going to really try to watch. They ate lunch and finished the movie before Janus got a text from Logan about the hostage situation.

“No one’s actually being held hostage, right?” Roman asked, after Janus had pulled on the costume he’d brought home with him and they’d both headed to the car.

“Nope. It was set up by the people that we’re not really fighting. The plan is for absolutely no one to get hurt today.”

“Okay, good,” Roman muttered. He was fidgeting in the passenger seat on the other side of the car, obviously nervous, which Janus very much understood.

It took them around ten minutes to get there. Janus pulled the car to a stop on the opposite side of the alleyway from the battle, and handed Roman the makeshift mask he’d made out of a large winter hat. Roman pulled it on and they both headed to the edge of the alleyway.

Logan and Patton were visible from behind, facing Anxiety, who must have noticed them, because he gave a general nod in their direction that was small enough it could be written off. He was clearly in the middle of some kind of dramatic villain speech that Janus badly wished he could hear so he could tease him about it later.

Janus looked across the empty space in front of them and saw who must have been Remus looking out of an alleyway on the opposite side. He was too far away to be able to see clearly, but Janus was pretty sure he was in costume too, which was good. Janus nudged Roman gently and gestured. Both Roman, and then Remus, gave a small wave to each other.

Then Roman turned back to Janus. “Go on,” he whispered, nudging him forward. “I’ll wait for you guys to start fighting. Just make sure you stop moving for a minute when you want me to change your appearance, so I can get a clear shot.”

“Okay,” Janus said, taking a small step forward. “Remember I’m waiting for a signal from someone else.”

“I know.”

Janus nodded and stepped out of the alleyway.

“Ah, and look who’s finally arrived!” Anxiety called loudly, and both Logan and Patton turned. “Someone likes to take their sweet time, hmm?”

Janus took a minute to be impressed by his acting skills before starting forward. He was holding Karli by the back of her arms.

“Let her go,” Janus said firmly.

“No, I don’t think I will,” Anxiety said. “I’ve been waiting a long time to introduce myself to the three of you.”

“What do you want?” Patton called.

“Long term? That’s for me to know and you to find out,” Anxiety said. “But for now? I just want to fight. I’ve been meaning to get a workout in lately.”

Janus could hear the obvious lie in his voice, and he wasn’t surprised by it like he had been last time.

Anxiety spun Karli away from himself where she landed against the side of a building. If Janus hadn’t known what to look for, he would have assumed she was hurt.

“Hey!” Patton snapped, clearly not having known what to look for.

“Let’s get this thing started already,” Anxiety said, and he leapt towards Patton.

Now Patton was much more skilled in a fight than anyone gave him credit for. Janus knew this, and Anxiety had to know it too. But you really wouldn’t be able to tell by the way Anxiety moved around Patton. It didn’t look like a single blow was connecting. It took Janus a minute to realize what was happening was that he was using his power to keep Patton off balance, and likely Remus’ too. Logan tried to back up Patton from the other side, but he wasn’t making much progress either.

…Janus felt a little awkward with his role of just standing there. He was just supposed to wait for Anxiety to get close enough for them to pretend to fight.

Eventually, Anxiety threw both Patton and Logan to the ground and grabbed onto Janus by the arm. Janus gave Roman a thumbs up as best he could while still managing to look enough like he was struggling against Anxiety’s very much not real or painful grip.

Anxiety dragged them both to the ground, and they both rolled over a couple of times. Eventually Janus pinned Anxiety, and sure enough, their costumes had now switched, confirmed by Logan and Patton in the background calling out in concern for “Janus.”

Janus dragged Anxiety to his feet and glanced over at the alleyway where Remus was now standing with his hands out as if he’d just used his power.

“You hit me!” Janus yelled. “Undo it!”

“No! Wait!” Anxiety screamed underneath him to keep up the act, and Remus waved his hand again. Janus blinked as he felt Remus’ power shift away. It felt like something had fallen off of his shoulders, something that he’d stopped feeling affecting him all the time, but still had been. A second after, Roman’s illusion faded.

Janus waited to hear Remus’ call of surprise, which was supposed to come right after that happened, but nothing came. He gave a confused look down at Anxiety, but Anxiety was shifting around like he was confused too.

Before Janus could whisper a question, Anxiety flew out from underneath him, and straight into someone Janus didn’t recognize.

“Fun fact,” the person growled in his face. “Did you know that earpieces have metal in them?”

“Diggory?” Anxiety choked. “What are you—”

Before Anxiety could finish, Remus flew out of the alleyway and into his other waiting hand. Janus started forward instantly, before a hand caught him from behind.

“Deceit, stop!” Patton called, and Janus whirled around to see him.

“Wha— Morality, let go!”

“Ah, Patton, Logan, Janus,” Diggory called casually, and all three of them spun around.

“How do you know who we are?” Logan asked, coming up on Janus’ other side as Patton let go of his arm.

“Oh, I know lots of things about you,” Diggory said, pulling Remus closer to his side. Janus heard him whimper and took a moment to fend off how much he wanted to break Diggory in half. Diggory moved his gaze back towards Janus.

“You,” he crooned. “You are interesting. You working with my third in command to try and overthrow me I understand—”

Janus’ eyes widened in horror.

“But you risk your nephew for my lucky weapon and you’re not even supposed to know him?” Diggory laughed and shook his head in what appeared to be disbelief. “Maybe your powers are losing their touch, Virgil.”

Before Janus could even begin to process that name, or call Diggory a liar, or something that meant Diggory was just trying to psyche him out, he leaned down and ripped Anxiety’s mask off, and Janus’ entire world stopped spinning.

“Virgil?” Janus whispered.

Virgil turned to look at him, and was clearly about to say something, an excuse or an explanation, when Diggory laughed again.

“Well, would you look at that? The gang’s all here, aren’t they? Unfortunately, not for too much longer.” He glared down at Remus and then over at Virgil. “You two thought you could outsmart me, huh? Well, I have ways to handle traitors.” He smiled one more time. “Just ask Scott. He told me about all of this, after all.”

Janus started once again to run towards the three people across from him, when Diggory leveled a glare across at him. “Oh, I don’t think so.”

Before Janus could say anything else, several empty cars flew into the space in front of them, blocking them off from the three of them as well as the alleyway he was now dragging Virgil and Remus down. They vanished from sight in a couple seconds.

Janus stared after them even once he couldn’t see them anymore.

…He’d known.

Part of him had always known. Anxiety’s words, his mannerisms, the way he thought Janus hated him… the way he kissed. It would have been impossible not to have suspicions. But he hadn’t wanted to think about it. Because if Anxiety was Virgil, that meant… well, that meant so many things. That meant he was in love with a supervillain. That meant he was potentially used by Virgil to learn information about him. And, when Janus realized that was in no way what happened, it meant that he hadn’t recognized quickly enough that Virgil had needed _help._

But mostly the problem was that if Virgil was Anxiety, then…

Then what did that make him?

There was no way it started and stopped with ‘cute guy he spotted in a Starbucks.’

Janus’ racing thoughts were interrupted by footsteps and yelling.

“Uncle Janus!”

Janus and his still two thoroughly shocked partners spun around one last time to see Roman running towards them.

“Uncle Janus, are you okay?” Roman asked. “I’m sorry, I tried really hard to—”

“You did perfectly, Roman,” Janus said instantly, leaning down and pulling Roman into a hug because quite frankly he had to hug _someone_ right now. “You did everything perfectly.”

“Janus,” came a low voice, and he turned to see Patton looking down at him. “What is going on? What is our son doing here?”

“Who was that, and why did he have Virgil?” Logan asked, crossing his arms. “You have a lot of explaining to do.”

“I know, I know,” Janus said, standing back up. “But I think it will be easier to explain if you just check your memories.”

That seemed to surprise everyone. “What do you mean?” Patton asked.

“Your memories. All of our memories. They’ve all been tampered with. We just didn’t know to look. Check me if you don’t believe me.”

Patton and Logan exchanged a glance. Janus wondered if they were now understanding how he felt every time he’d tried to look at Virgil and been met with a mask.

Patton took a couple steps forward and put two fingertips on Janus’ forehead through his mask. And immediately, he jerked back like he’d been burned.

“See?” Janus asked.

“You— that’s not just— oh God,” Patton whispered. He put his hand over where his mouth would be and Janus heard him sniff.

Janus raised an eyebrow. “Now I’m thinking maybe you’re seeing something else.”

“Logan, Logan—” Patton waved his husband forward. Logan walked forward and put his own fingertips on Janus’ head.

“Ah,” Logan said, taking a step back. Janus recognized the tone of voice that he heard when Patton was feeling the emotions of a memory that he couldn’t. “That is certainly concerning, yes.”

_“Logan!”_ Patton exclaimed, and now he sounded desperate.

“Wait, what is it?” Roman asked, taking a step forward.

“I believe Patton is talking about Remus,” Logan said. “I could be wrong.” He turned to Patton. “I’m not wrong, am I?”

“I—” Patton was starting to shake.

“Hang on!” Janus called. “Could you two just return everyone’s memories, including memories we apparently have of Remus, and then I can explain what I still need to explain? We’re kind of short on time here!”

Logan took Patton’s hand and squeezed it, and Patton managed to stand up straighter as they both turned back to Janus.

“Okay, we’re going to return all of your memories at once, if that’s alright,” Logan said. “This will probably be a little overwhelming. You have… some memories that I don’t think Virgil has mentioned to you.”

“He mentioned he’d erased my memory several times. He didn’t say what any of them were.”

“Oh, Janus…” Patton whispered.

“What is it?” Janus asked.

“It will take too long to explain,” Logan said. “As you said, we have a limited time span. Is it alright if we return your memories all at once?”

Janus nodded. “It won’t cause any physical damage like before, if that’s what you’re asking.”

Logan nodded. “Okay. This probably will be very overwhelming for you, Janus.”

“Alright,” Janus said. “Do it then.”

Both Logan and Patton leaned forward, and they each put two fingertips on his forehead again.

…

A million things were suddenly making sense.


	24. Chapter 24

He should have known not to trust Scott. Virgil held Remus close in the back of the van Diggory had thrown them in and cursed himself for ever trusting Scott. Of  _ course _ he ratted them out to Diggory. He didn’t know how the fuck he’d managed to lie to Janus without him telling, but he never should have trusted him anyway.

“Virgil, what do we do?” Remus whispered. “Are we still fighting back at home?”

“I don’t know,” Virgil murmured back. “Give me a moment, I’ll come up with something.”

“Something for what?” Remus asked, but Virgil didn’t reply, trying to make the racing thoughts in his head come up with anything helpful.

“Can you use your power on yourself?” he asked Remus quietly.

“Yeah.”

“Okay, you’re gonna run when I say run, alright? And use your power to get away without anyone stopping you. Go find the heroes, they’ll help you.”

“What about you?”

“I’ll be right behind you,” Virgil said, and took a moment to be glad Janus wasn’t there.

When the doors were opened again, they were in the parking garage, and two guards pulled them out. Virgil recognized Wyatt and William. He held Remus tightly enough that he was pretty sure they got the message that he wasn’t going to let them be separated, because they just ended up herding them both towards the elevators.

Remus spent the way up in them dancing nervously to the polka music, which Virgil supposed was as good a way as any to calm him down. He looked around, trying to figure out where Diggory had gone. He wasn’t anywhere in the elevator.

The elevator came to a stop and they started towards the conference room. Virgil looked at the memory of the guard holding Remus and wiped away the last two hours.

“Remus, now!” he screamed, and Remus threw the guards arm off and sprinted back for the elevator. Virgil waited until the doors shut and then wiped his own guards’ memory.

He watched the two guards above him blink down at him and look at each other. “What are we doing here?” Wyatt asked.

“You were taking me to Diggory?” Virgil said, raising an eyebrow. That would buy Remus some time.

Eventually the guards dragged him into the conference room as Virgil started struggling in order to buy a couple extra seconds.

Diggory was standing at the far end of the room as the guards dragged him in. Scott was nowhere in sight, which was surprising.

Diggory started glaring at the guards. “Where’s the kid?”

The guards exchanged a confused look. “The kid?” William asked.

Diggory glared down at Virgil. “Whoops,” Virgil said casually.

Diggory growled through his teeth and glared up at William. “Go find someone else who still remembers who Remus is and  _ get him back here!” _

William ran from the room.

_ “You,” _ Diggory said, starting around the table. He reached Virgil and yanked him upwards by his chin. “You worthless little pest. What were you thinking?”

“I was thinking I hate you,” Virgil said. “Is this news to you?”

Diggory drew his elbow back and slammed it into Virgil’s nose. Virgil managed to keep from crying out.

“You’ve ruined your own life is all you’ve done,” Diggory hissed. “You think that childhood friend of yours is ever going to forgive you after learning everything you’ve done?”

Virgil managed to hold back a wince. He’d known that already. Even if Diggory hadn’t pulled his mask off Janus probably would have figured it all out when Patton and Logan gave him his memories back. But there was no way he was going to let Diggory have the satisfaction of knowing he was getting to him.

Diggory straightened himself up and smoothed out his shirt. “They’re going to be captured coming here to rescue Remus,” he said. “And then I think I’ll give them all a chance to scream at you before you erase all of their memories.”

He leveled a deathly glare down at Virgil again, and Virgil fought back a shudder. “Honestly, what did you think that the three of you were going to be able to accomplish against me? You failed, as you were always going to. Wyatt, bring him to my apartment. I will be there momentarily.”

Okay. Some things to unpack there.

The three of them? Did that mean Diggoy didn’t know about everyone in the building? “The three of them” actually made it sound like he was just talking about him, Remus, and Scott. What did he know?

Virgil didn’t have much time to focus on that fact, however, because Wyatt started dragging him back towards the elevator, which, to understate it, wasn’t good. Diggory’s apartment was not somewhere you wanted to go. Virgil had only been there one other time in his life. He’d been in his mid twenties and badly screwed up a mission, and Diggory had decided usual methods of punishment weren’t going to be enough.

Virgil had erased his own memory of what happened afterwards.

This wasn’t going to be fun.

…

It had been about the time it took to travel down a single floor when Remus realized Virgil had been lying. Which meant he was still up there. With Diggory. Remus had screamed and pounded on the elevator door for another six floors before he realized he wasn’t going to be able to do anything himself. And he couldn’t count on anyone in the building to help.

Virgil had told him to go find the heroes.

Janus. Janus would help him save Virgil, right? He had too.

Remus started using his power on himself just before the doors opened on the ground floor. The elevator doors opened to empty space and Remus started running.

He knew how to make it back to the battle sight from here well enough that he could trust his power to get him there. He took as deep a breath as he could as he started running for the exit. No one appeared to stop him. He made it outside and turned to start running towards the battle side when he ran head first into another kid and went sprawling to the ground.

“Fucking  _ ow,” _ Remus grumbled, rubbing at his forehead.

“Remus?”

Remus jerked into a sitting position before jumping to his feet when he recognized the people in front of him. “You’re here! You—” He looked among the heroes before his gaze locked on Janus. “You!” he ran forward and grabbed onto his hand. “You said you would help Virgil! Please! Please, you have to help him, I don’t want Diggory to hurt him!”

Somewhere in the back of his head Remus realized that all of this pleading probably wasn’t necessary, since Virgil spoke about Janus like they both cared about  _ each other, _ but he couldn’t seem to stop.

“Remus—” Janus started.

“Please!” Remus cried again, stopping his tugging when he realized Janus was probably too big for him to actually succeed in pulling him anywhere. “Please, you— Virgil said you would help, he said you promised, he’s the only family I have, please, you have to help him!”

“Where did you see him last?” asked who must have been Patton, since he was wearing the Morality outfit.

“Patton—” Logic said in surprise.

“There’s no  _ time, _ Logan! After!”

Janus turned to the other kid. That must have been Roman. Remus wished he could take a minute to introduce himself up close. “You stay here,” Janus said.

“Hell no!”

“Language!” Patton called.

“No, I can help!” Roman cried. “I’m helping!” He spun around to face Remus. “Where’s Virgil?”

“I, uh, I don’t know. They were taking him to the conference room but I don’t know if they stayed there—” Remus wiped his eyes. “We were supposed to have help but Scott told Diggory everything!”

“Okay, I have an idea.” Roman turned and ran back to the doors. He pulled them open, and before Remus could even be alarmed by the guards pouring out, Roman seemed to grow about ten times taller, and don a cloak and witches hat, and— and scales?

Before Remus could be alarmed by  _ that, _ he shot fire into the sky, and about half of the guards screamed and fled.

A second later Roman was back to looking like himself as if he hadn’t even moved. “Fake shapeshifting!” he called triumphantly. “Who ever said the Dragon Witch isn’t awesome?!”

“I would never say that,” Remus said dazedly, and Roman beamed at him.

“You’re here to help, right?” someone asked.

Remus turned at the familiar voice and saw Rosanna emerging from the guards.

“Rosanna! You’re okay?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

Remus took a moment to realize the rest of the guards weren’t screaming, or even surprised, it seemed, by Roman turning into a dragon witch.

“Are we still trying to take the building?” Remus asked.

“As far as I know,” Rosanna said. “We’re ready if you guys are.”

“Can we trust them?”

Remus looked over at Janus, who had spoken, and nodded. “Rosanna stayed with me most nights after that one time with Diggory,” he said. “And she was the first person who wanted to try and take him down. We can trust her and anyone with her.”

Janus nodded. “Alright.” He turned to his partners behind him. “Anyone else ready to take down a supervillain?”

…

Diggory didn’t appear momentarily. Virgil waited for five minutes before Wyatt got some kind of call on his earpiece and disappeared back the elevator. Virgil badly wished he still had his own earpiece, but he had no idea where his mask had gone. He waited another two minutes before he decided the situation couldn’t get much worse anyway.

He ran to the elevator and got inside. He danced nervously to polka music as he hit the button for the ground floor, and didn’t stop until the doors opened.

Chaos surrounded him. So Scott hadn’t told Diggory about the battle. Well, Virgil could work out his feelings about Scott later. He grabbed a metal crowbar from some kind of debris nearby and dove into the fight.

Rosanna had told everyone who was on their side to wear their shirt backwards, which was easy enough to spot in a split second that Virgil thought it was a good idea. More people poured into the lobby as the fight went on, and Virgil wondered a couple times if anyone had bothered to look in while passing the building and happened to see a massive brawl happening in the entryway.

Virgil swiped the bar under someone’s feet, knocking them off balance so they landed on their back.  _ God I hope Remus made it out. _

Virgil caught a fair share of what must have been superpowers too. Someone was firing a stun gun from his spot hanging on the ceiling. He was absolutely going to call him Spiderman. There was one person teleporting around the room. Someone was levitating an entire door over the head of someone else. And… was that a dragon?

“Virgil!”

Virgil whirled around. “Remus! I thought you were going to get out!”

“I did!” Remus called, throwing his arms around him. “And then I immediately ran into the heroes! Why would you sacrifice yourself? I’m going to kill you!”

Virgil heard a cry of alarm from across the room, one that Remus seemed to recognize, because he leapt back from Virgil and started sprinting across the room. “HEY!” he screamed. “NO ONE TOUCHES THE COOLEST KID I’VE EVER MET!”

Ah, so he had met Roman. That was good. Virgil sprinted across the lobby after Remus, and almost made it to where Roman was when he was yanked aside by a different guard. Virgil swung the crowbar blindly and heard a crunch that he did not envy before the guard grabbed his shoulder and started screaming.

“I got it!” called a new voice, and Karli appeared a second later to drag the guy away. “Hi, Virgil, just making sure no one dies! Glad you’re okay!”

Virgil gave an appreciative wave and turned to see if he could find Remus again, but he seemed to have vanished into the crowd.

Someone else grabbed him from behind, and Virgil shot an elbow into whatever part of the person he could reach. It was something hard and pointy, because Virgil’s elbow was hurting now too. Unfortunately, the person didn’t let go. Virgil was about to try again when the guy stumbled and fell. Virgil nearly fell too before a hand caught him by the waist to steady him, and he was met with Rosanna, who was on the ground in a position that meant she’d probably just swept the guys feet out from under him.

“Thanks, Rosanna!”

“I have no idea what I’m doing, I’ve never fought before!” Rosanna screamed before whirling around and punching another guy in the nose.

“I think you’re doing okay!”

Someone touched his shoulder and Virgil whirled around and hefted his crowbar before he saw two somewhat familiar faces.

“Are you hurt in any way?” Logan asked. “Remus seemed concerned.”

“I’m alright,” Virgil said, taking a moment in the middle of an all out battle to feel awkward. “Uh… sorry I kidnapped your son.”

“We’ll talk about that later,” Patton said, throwing a kick to his side when someone tried to grab for him. “I’m glad you’re alright.”

The three of them fought together for a moment before Virgil started looking around again. “I saw Remus a while ago, I think he was going to help Roman,” he called. “Has anyone seen them?”

“Not since the fight started,” Logan said, and Virgil could hear the obvious worry in his voice. “But from what I’ve seen the two of them do today, I think they can handle themselves.”

“They’re something special,” Virgil agreed, swinging his crowbar under someone’s feet again. He was about to say something else, but someone grabbed Logan by the arm a second later and yanked him backwards, and Patton cried out in alarm before following to help him. Virgil lost track of both of them in a couple of seconds.

He spun around to see if he could find anyone else he knew, but before he could get very far he heard about the last voice he wanted to hear.

_ “You little piece of shit.” _

Virgil was yanked backwards, and before he could swing his crowbar Diggory ripped it out of his hands and hovered it above both of their heads. Why had he thought grabbing a metal crowbar was a good idea again?

Diggory grabbed him by the throat and hoisted him up in the air, and Virgil clawed at his hands in a desperate attempt to get them away from him. He couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t breathe—

Something slammed into Diggory from behind and he stumbled forward enough that he let go of Virgil, who hit the ground hard, a second before the crowbar dropped from the air and landed on Virgil’s stomach, knocking the wind out of him. But Virgil was more focused on the person standing further back that Diggory had whirled around to face.

_ “You,” _ Diggory growled. Janus held up his hands, whether to block or prepare to throw a punch, Virgil didn’t know. He could only imagine how much he was glaring under his mask. “You are such a  _ thorn in my side. _ You prevent me from just  _ taking _ Virgil as a teenager, you hold up my plans when that  _ idiot _ recognizes you, you hold up my plans  _ again _ with your stupid broken brain, and then you work with Virgil to overthrow me?”

Virgil glanced to the side, looking for something he could do. He couldn’t risk using the crowbar again, could he—

He met gazes with Scott. Scott gestured to Diggory and gave a thumbs down. Virgil had no clue what that meant. Scott pointed at himself, and then back at Diggory. Wait, was he trying to say he was disabling Diggory’s power?

In front of Virgil, Diggory took a step towards Janus. “You know what, I have different plans for you. Virgil isn’t going to erase your memory. That’s too good for you. I think I’ll have him erase everyone else’s memory, and then I’ll kill him, slowly and painfully, and make you watch.”

Virgil stood up and slammed the crowbar into the back of Diggory’s head.

Diggory crumpled, and the commotion around them seemed to stop as everyone turned to stare.

“That’s for Remus,” Virgil said, still trying to catch his breath.

There were a couple moments of stunned silence. Virgil looked across at Janus, who after a second pulled his mask up.

He was smiling.

“Hey,” Virgil whispered.

Janus smiled a little wider, and opened his mouth to say something else.

And that’s around the time that a gunshot was heard, and Virgil blacked out.


	25. Chapter 25

“I need to get home,” Rosanna said, shifting from where she was standing in the doorway. “I have to drive my son to school soon. Please tell me when he wakes up.”

“I will,” Karli replied from her spot leaning over Virgil. Rosanna nodded and headed out.

“He will wake up, right?” Remus asked. He was sitting on a chair nearby, brought in from Virgil’s kitchen. His newly returned memories seemed to have done nothing to get rid of his worry for Virgil. Janus could easily say he felt the same.

“He will wake up,” Karli confirmed. “The person in closest danger of actually dying was Diggory. Virgil hit him pretty bad on the head. If I can fix him up, I can easily fix Virgil.”

“Diggory wasn’t shot,” Roman said from the other chair, sounding just as worried as Remus was. That part was a little more surprising.

“Yes, but I got to him almost immediately,” Karli explained again. Janus admired her patience with panicking children. She didn’t even sound a little exasperated to be explaining this all for the third time. “And the bullet didn’t hit anywhere lethal. I don’t think he would have passed out at all if he’d been in a less stressful situation. And look,” she gestured at Virgil’s shoulder, which looked good as new. “You can’t even tell he was injured at all.”

“You’re amazing,” Roman said, sounding more than a little awed.

“She is!” Remus said, turning to his fathers on the other side of the bed as if it was imperative that they understand this. “She healed Virgil after every mission, and me that one time Diggory… um.” Remus looked down and started fidgeting with his fingers. Janus exchanged a look with Patton and Logan and found equal concern there. Yeah, they were definitely going to have a lot to talk about later.

“I think that’s all I can do,” Karli said after another second of awkward silence. “I’ll stay here if you want—”

“Go home,” Janus said, speaking for the first time in a while. “We’ve all had a very long day. We’ll call you if we need to.”

Karli nodded her thanks and started out, with a murmur to Janus that Scott was probably going to come with her, unless he had any more questions. Janus shook his head, and she left.

No one said anything for another minute.

“Are you guys mad at Virgil?” Remus whispered.

“No,” Patton said softly, and Logan nodded his agreement.

“We’re definitely going to have some questions, but we’re not mad,” he confirmed. “From what you and Janus have said, Virgil did his best to care for you when we… couldn’t.”

“He did,” Remus said with a firm nod, even as he looked down at his shoes. “None of this is his fault.”

Janus looked down at Virgil again. It was more that he was sleeping than “involuntary unconscious” at this point, according to Karli. He’d been trying not to be concerned since Karli told him Virgil would be okay, but it was also generally a little concerning when you see your best friend that you just remembered existed/ex boyfriend that you were still very much in love with/sort of mortal enemy that you were also very much in love with shot in front of you seconds before he collapses.

Patton and Logan seemed to understand how terrified he was. They seemed to sympathize with him too, despite now having very mixed memories and feelings of Virgil as a whole. He wasn’t quite sure how long they would need to care about Virgil, or if they ever would. What he did know is that he was never going to lose Virgil ever again.

Janus’ thoughts were interrupted by Roman’s stomach growling. “Sorry,” he mumbled, looking down in embarrassment. “I don’t think I’ve eaten since breakfast.”

“I think there’s still some beef stew left in the fridge,” Remus piped up. “Virgil made it a little bit ago. It’s not as good as Papa’s, but it’s still good. You want some of that?”

“I think that’s a good idea,” Patton said, as he and Logan both walked around to the other side of the bed. “We should all probably eat something. I’m sure Virgil won’t mind. Janus?”

Janus glanced up from the bed.

“Are…” Patton trailed off.

“I’ll bring you something in,” Logan finished.

“Thanks,” Janus said, and Logan nodded. He and Patton both turned and followed the twins out of the room.

Janus looked back at Virgil. He didn’t look like he was in pain, or having a nightmare of any kind. He really did just look like he was sleeping. At least he wouldn’t be as tired as Janus would be when the last of the adrenaline from the past couple hours finally wore off. Janus ran a hand through his hair. He wasn’t even sure where to begin on trying to process everything that had just happened.

_“I think I’ll kill him, slowly and painfully, and make you watch.”_

Janus flinched. He was definitely going to be having nightmares about that idea for a while. He was glad Roman and Remus hadn’t been anywhere nearby to hear that. Those two had gone through enough for a lifetime lately.

Janus reached forward and took Virgil’s hand, squeezing it. Virgil didn’t react, and Janus tried to ignore the concern that was brought up by that fact.

Someone had called the police after Diggory collapsed, and the story didn’t take much convincing with the backup of a multitude of people, including three well-known superheroes. Most of the other employees had made themselves scarce, not including Rosanna, Karli, and Scott. Karli was still helping Virgil, who she had in fact gone to pretty much immediately after he’d been shot. Rosanna had been checking around the lobby to make sure no one else had gotten hurt, and Scott had come up to Janus and told him exactly what had happened, because he’d known Janus would believe him as long as he told the truth.

Pretty smart, Janus would admit.

Virgil shifted, and Janus looked hopefully at his face, but he ended up just rolling over and falling back asleep. Janus sighed.

That had easily been one of the biggest shocks of the day, tied with learning about Remus. It had taken exactly no time for Janus to connect the memories he got back from Patton and Logan to the story Virgil had told him about why he joined Diggory. It made his heart break in two all over again.

Had Virgil really been going through something so awful? How had he never noticed? Janus looked down at their now-joined hands. And had it really been that easy for Virgil to erase himself from his memory? Granted, that’s what his power was for, and apparently nothing had stopped him from doing so to his mother.

Janus thought for a moment of all the time he’d spent eating on the bleachers back in high school, after Virgil left when he hadn’t really had a reason to anymore. He thought of how even after he’d gotten a car, he’d still gone to the same diner within walking distance whenever he wanted to skip school. Maybe there was a way to miss someone subconsciously. Patton would certainly agree with him. That was what his part of memories was all about. And after all, Roman had certainly shown how much he’d been missing Remus through his own actions.

Janus sighed and rubbed at his forehead with his free hand.

The door opened behind him, and he turned to see Logan entering with a bowl of stew. He set it down on the nightside table with a nod and headed out again. Janus nodded his thanks back as he did so.

As the door shut behind Logan, Virgil stirred on the bed again. Janus looked back over, and this time was met with Virgil blinking his eyes open and his gaze moving to land on him.

“…Janus?”

“Hey, Virgil.”

“What happened?”

“Someone tried to shoot you. Karli fixed you up.”

“Someone shot me?”

Janus nodded.

“Well,” Virgil said, sounding a little stunned. “That’s not how I thought I’d go out.”

“You’re still here, so you were right, weren’t you?”

Virgil nodded slightly. “Do you know who shot me?”

“I think it was Wyatt.”

“Ugh. Yeah, I believe it.” Virgil was quiet for a minute. “Is everyone okay?”

“No deaths. Karli healed all the injuries. Diggory’s in custody right now. And Scott panicked.”

Virgil glanced over in confusion. “Huh?”

“Scott came up to me and told me what happened as everything was still getting sorted out. He was apparently aggressively interrogated the night before the battle, and blurted something out as he was panicking. He said he didn’t tell Diggory anything about the battle, and managed to keep Rosanna and Karli out of it. He didn’t betray anyone, he was just scared.”

From the way Virgil was nodding Janus could tell this story added up based on what he knew. He was quiet for a while as he let Virgil process it. After a minute, Virgil turned to look at him again, and Janus very much did _not_ like the way his face seemed to fall.

“Okay,” Virgil whispered, pulling his hand from Janus’ grasp. “You can go now.”

“Why would I go anywhere?” Janus said, as much more of a way to try and affirm to Virgil that he wasn’t than an actual question.

“You… you know now. You know everything I’ve done,” Virgil whispered.

Janus reached across the bed and took Virgil’s hand again. “Yes, Virgil, I do,” he said. “I know you saved my life when we were both in high school.”

Virgil looked back over at him. “But—”

“I know you worked hard almost two decades later to build a relationship with me from scratch, when that had to be incredibly painful for you. I know you gave that relationship up _again_ to protect me and the people I call my family. I know you protected Remus while the rest of us couldn’t. I know you worked to build a relationship with me a third time, this time with someone who was actively hostile towards you. I know you somehow figured out a way to let Remus help Roman figure out his power, when that should have been something that ended up being stolen from him. I know you sacrificed yourself for Remus yet again earlier today. I know you’re still going to focus on the things you did wrong and spend all of your energy trying to make things up to two parents whose sons lives you put above your own when you barely knew them, a kid whose life you saved indirectly multiple times and another kid who already thinks the world of you. And I know, Virgil Moore,” Janus leaned closer, actively ignoring the tears Virgil was trying and failing to wipe from his eyes. “That if you try to go anywhere that isn’t right by my side ever again because you think I don’t want you, you are going to find me right there for as long as it takes to show you how wrong you are.”

Virgil buried his head in his hands and burst into tears. Janus pulled Virgil into his arms and rubbed his back as Virgil shifted to burying his head in his chest. He wasn’t sure quite how long they stayed there, but eventually Virgil pulled back a little and looked much more directly at him. “You promise?” he whispered.

“I promise.”

Virgil dropped his head on his chest again. “I’m so tired, Jan.”

“It’s okay,” Janus murmured. “I’ve got you.” He pulled Virgil into a gentle hug and closed his eyes, keeping him there for a moment.

Virgil pulled back first, just a little. “I missed you so much,” he whispered.

“I missed you too.”

“You didn’t even know I existed,” Virgil said.

Janus opened his eyes to find Virgil looking at him already. “You’re right. Continuing to do all of the things we used to after you left was definitely just a coincidence. Just like the fact that my favorite diner looks exactly like the one we loved in high school. I did all of that because I definitely didn’t miss you in any way.”

“Shut up you asshole,” Virgil whispered, ducking his head down again. “I love you.”

Janus leaned in and kissed Virgil, wrapping his arms around him. Virgil did the same, and when they pulled back this time it was to leave even less space between them.

“I love you too,” Janus said, like second nature, like stepping back into the home you’d missed for so many years. The all-knowing “they” were wrong, by the way. You absolutely can go home again. Janus and Virgil had just proved it while crying in an apartment at midnight on a Tuesday.

You can go home again, and this time they were going to stay.


	26. Chapter 26

Remus had hugged the living daylights out of Virgil the moment he had walked into the kitchen, and he could tell by the look on Patton and Logan’s face when he saw them that this fact had all but cemented his place as a member of the Sanders family.

This fact would prove more true when Roman would walk up to him a couple seconds after Remus let go.

“Remus said you erased his memory.”

“I, um, I did,” Virgil said hesitantly.

“He also said you were the person who protected him from that Diggory guy.”

“I… tried my best.”

Roman nodded like that confirmed something. “Okay.” He wrapped his arms around Virgil. “Then you’re cool.”

And well, if Remus hadn’t done it, then Roman definitely did with that.

Virgil had moved out of the apartment the day after the battle when it was declared a crime scene. He was a little embarrassed to admit that he had no idea how he was going to be able to find a job or a place to live. Janus had waved his hand dismissively as if there wasn’t even a question and announced that Virgil would be staying with him and he’d be helping him go job hunting.

Living with Janus had been something Virgil had wanted to do, once upon a time. They’d talked about going to the same college and being roommates a lifetime and a half ago, in high school. But he had been certain that had been a hope that had fallen apart with Diggory, like everything else. Getting to be with Janus most of the day now was relieving, dreamlike, and a new kind of hopeful. Virgil still pretended to be incredibly annoyed, of course. He had a reputation to uphold. But he was pretty sure Janus had caught him staring at him and smiling too many times for him to really believe it.

Virgil had stayed in the guest room for the first couple nights, but he had grown surprisingly used to sleeping with another person when Remus had started having nightmares, to the point that he wasn’t really able to do it alone again.

By the end of the first week Virgil was sleeping in the same double bed as Janus, and he would admit that he definitely did not hate how he woke up wrapped in his arms more often than not. If nothing else, it kept the nightmares away (most of the time).

He’d talked to Scott not long after that. He had believed Janus’ story, because why wouldn’t he, and it hadn’t taken him long after that to forgive Scott for what had happened. He’d also had a talk with him about why visiting Diggory in prison was a terrible idea. It hadn’t taken much to convince Scott of that. Their meeting had ended with Virgil giving Scott the very first hug he thought he ever had, and it was incredibly awkward. But that didn’t change the fact that Virgil was pretty sure they would remain very close friends.

The same was true of Karli and Rosanna, who made check ups on him in some way at least once a day to check how he was doing. He and Remus had gone to both of their houses for dinner a couple times, and Roman had come along too. Karli and Rosanna had both adored him, naturally, and Roman and Remus had really hit it off with Rosanna’s son Remy. (Everyone could already tell that those three were a disaster waiting to happen.)

Virgil had given Patton and Logan a list of the people whose memories of Remus he’d erased, and also offered to help with anything they needed to do to get Remus straightened out at school. They assured him they could handle it, but he could tell how much they appreciated the offer.

He had been very surprised with how little Logan and Patton blamed him for everything that had happened. He supposed it would be kind of hard to hate someone both of your kids loved, but he had very much not been expecting to be invited to the first family game night they had as a complete family again.

The night had been an experience. He’d been tackled by Remus the second he walked through the door, which he hadn’t minded at all, as he definitely missed seeing the kid every day. Remus had insisted that he be on his and Roman’s team, despite Virgil pointing out that he was probably supposed to be on the adults team given that they were playing a game called “Beat the Parents.” (Three guesses who won.)

Virgil hadn’t gotten much of a chance to see Roman and Remus interact before, but they seemed to be an unstoppable team while playing board games at least, despite Remus having been barred from using his power now that they all knew about it. After the board game they both went into the living room so they could act out a scene for the superhero story Roman was now writing. Virgil had remarked to Janus on the way home that he was glad Remus seemed less affected by everything that had happened than they’d expected him to be.

…He hadn’t loved being proven wrong about that.

They’d been watching Janus’ new favorite philosophy show, which was  _ incredibly _ interesting (read: incredibly dull, but Virgil loved him), when Virgil’s phone went off. Usually when someone called him it was either, Scott, Rosanna, or Karli, so when Virgil grabbed it and saw Patton’s name he answered it with more than a little concern.

“Patton?”

“Virgil, I need you to come over here right now.”

“What’s going on?” Virgil asked, standing up.

“Remus locked himself in the bathroom. He keeps saying he won’t come out until he sees you. I don’t know if he knows he’s safe,” Patton said, with obvious panic that Virgil was pretty sure was making his voice shake.

“Why did he lock himself in the bathroom?” Virgil asked, running over to grab his shoes by the door and holding his phone to his ear with his shoulder. Janus shot him a worried look and stood up too.

“Roman and Logan were having an argument, and I think the yelling freaked him out more than any of us were expecting.”

“Oh god,” Virgil muttered, holding onto the phone again as he accepted the coat Janus was offering him. “We’ll be there in ten minutes.”

“What’s going on?” Janus asked as soon as Virgil hung up.

“Remus is freaking out. I think he might be having some kind of flashback,” Virgil said as they both sprinted outside. “How many traffic laws are you comfortable with me breaking right now?”

“What’s a traffic law?”

“Okay, cool.”

Virgil climbed on the motorcycle he’d kept. That would get them there faster than taking the car and they could also probably ignore more of those temporarily-non-existent traffic laws if they were on the motorcycle.

Virgil sped away the second Janus was safely on the back of the motorcycle, and they made it to the Sanders house in five minutes. Logan was waiting in the doorway, looking just as concerned as Patton had sounded on the phone. Virgil jumped off the motorcycle, leaving Janus to turn it off and put the kickstand down, and sprinted past Logan into the house.

Patton and Roman were both waiting outside the first floor bathroom, Patton seemingly trying to talk through the door and Roman standing back slightly with tears in his eyes. Patton stepped back the moment he saw Virgil, and Virgil stepped up to the door in his place.

“Remus?” he called, knocking gently on the door.

There was a couple seconds of silence before the door opened slightly. “V’rgil?”

“Yeah, hey, I’m here Re.”

Remus threw the door open and launched himself at Virgil, who caught him and lowered them both onto the floor. He vaguely registered Janus appearing behind them and leading Patton and Roman into the living room. Virgil caught his eye before they left and nodded his head towards Roman. He was pretty sure he needed some comfort right now too. Janus nodded.

“I don’t want him to hurt me, Virgil,” Remus whispered, and Virgil turned his attention back to him.

“No one’s going to hurt you, Re,” he whispered. “No one  _ wants _ to hurt you.”

“But he was yelling.”

“Who was yelling, Remus?”

Remus didn’t reply, and after a second he pulled back slightly.

“Hey, Remus, do you know where you are right now?” Virgil asked gently.

“The bathroom?”

“We’re outside of it, but what bathroom?”

“At— at your apartment.”

“No, Re, that’s not where we are.”

Remus looked up at Virgil and wiped at his eyes. “We’re not?”

Virgil shook his head. Remus looked around for a minute, and eventually his gaze settled back on Virgil. “I’m home?”

Virgil nodded. “Yeah.”

Remus looked down again. “Papa was yelling,” he said quietly. “Papa and Roman.”

Virgil nodded again.

Remus looked up. “But Papa and Roman don’t want to hurt me.”

“No, they don’t.”

Remus nodded like this made sense. He took a shaky breath, and wrapped himself around Virgil’s chest. “Sorry,” he mumbled.

“No apologies necessary, Re. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Did I scare everyone?”

“They were only scared because they wanted you to be okay. They’re not gonna be mad at you.”

Remus looked around. “Where are they?”

“They’re back in the living room. You want to go back there?”

Remus nodded, and climbed down from where he was sitting on Virgil’s legs. Virgil took his hand when Remus grabbed for it and they both headed back towards the living room, where Janus and Logan were sitting on the couch Patton was currently kneeling in front of the chair and talking to Roman.

Janus and Logan both looked up when the two of them appeared in the entryway.

“Hey,” Remus said, which then caused Patton to look up and Roman to spin around in the chair. “Sorry.”

“It’s alright, Remus,” Logan said, standing. “You did nothing wrong. In fact, I believe I owe you an apology.”

“Me too,” Roman said, standing up and moving around the chair. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Remus said. He let go of Virgil’s hand and walked forward to pull Roman into a hug. He went to Logan a second later and did the same, while Patton stood up from his spot in front of the chair and Janus moved over to stand next to Virgil.

“Is he alright?” he asked quietly. Virgil nodded.

They didn’t end up going home again that night. Instead, the six of them sat on the couch to watch Disney. Virgil and Janus both sat together on the right side, with Remus curled into Virgil’s other side and Roman tucked against Remus’ other side, Patton on the other side of Roman and Logan sitting slightly smushed against the arm of the couch and Patton. Pretty much no one was surprised when they all ended up falling asleep that way.

Virgil was surprised to wake up later, though. The light had flicked on in the kitchen, and considering the wind blowing could wake him up, it made sense that was all it took. He looked around the couch and spotted Roman missing from where Remus was now laid out against empty space. Thankfully Janus was splayed against the arm, which let Virgil stand up and head into the kitchen.

Roman was sitting at the kitchen table and clearly trying his best not to cry.

“Roman?”

Roman jerked upwards and hurriedly ducked his head down again when he spotted Virgil.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Virgil asked, moving forward so he could sit in the chair next to Roman.

“Nothing,” Roman mumbled, wiping at his eyes. “I’m fine.”

“I don’t need to be Janus to tell that’s not true, bud,” Virgil said gently.

Roman flinched.

“You don’t have to tell me what’s wrong if you don’t want to, okay?” Virgil said. “But I like to think I’m alright at talking through things. I mean granted, your Dad would definitely be better at it, but still.”

Roman laughed a little wetly and wiped at his eyes again. He was quiet for a moment.

“It’s all my fault, isn’t it?”

“What’s all your fault?” Virgil asked.

“That Diggory took Remus.”

Virgil stilled. “Roman, how… how could that be your fault?”

“I overheard you talking to Dad and Papa,” Roman said. “You said Diggory threatened to kill me if you didn’t take Remus.”

“Roman,” Virgil started.

“If it wasn’t for me you wouldn’t have had to take him!” Roman said. “Remus wouldn’t have had to be there, and he wouldn’t be hurting so much now.”

“Roman, look at me.”

Roman did.

“I’m gonna tell you something pretty terrible right now, okay?”

Roman nodded hesitantly.

“That’s not how this works. If it hadn’t been you it would have been something else. Diggory chose to threaten you because he knew doing that would get me to agree, but you were far from the only option. If you weren’t available, he would have threatened something or someone else until I agreed to go after Remus. He just wanted him, okay? And he would have done anything it took to get him. It is in no way your fault that he got Remus. There was nothing you could have done that would have prevented it. And the alternative,” Virgil leaned forward to emphasize his words. “Would have been something happening to you. And  _ that’s not any better, _ you hear me?”

Roman nodded a little. He looked down and wiped at his eyes again. “I hate him, Virgil,” he whispered. “He hurt my brother. I hate him so much.”

Virgil nodded. “Me too,” he said. He hesitated for a moment. “Hey, Roman, you want to know something?”

“What?”

“Before I erased Remus’ memory, I told him what was going on. Just to give the both of us as much control as we could get. And the second he heard you were in trouble, he told me to erase his memories in order to keep you safe.”

Roman blinked quickly a couple times. “Really?” he whispered.

Virgil nodded. “Really.”

Roman stood up and walked over to Virgil before wrapping his arms around him. “I… thanks for protecting him,” he whispered.

“Always,” Virgil replied. “I swear I will always do my absolute best to protect both of you.”

Roman looked back and smirked up at him a little, seeming a little more stable. “And Janus?” he teased.

Virgil laughed. “If I can,” he replied. “Although he can protect himself pretty well too.”

“Hey, I can protect myself too! I can turn into a Dragon Witch!”

“You can,” Virgil said, smiling at him. “You’re pretty fierce.”

Roman beamed up at him. His smile grew a little smaller the next second later but no less happy. “You know Remus said he thinks I’m the coolest kid he’s ever met,” he said. “He didn’t even remember me when he said that. But I asked him after Dad and Papa gave his memories back and he said yeah, that was true.”

“Remus had the right idea,” Virgil said. “You are something spectacular.”

Roman smiled again, then looked down slightly and gave a firm nod. “So is he,” he said quietly, more to himself than to Virgil. A second later he looked up again. “Virgil?”

“Yeah?”

“I think it’s my turn to protect Remus for a while.”

“I don’t think you should do that alone,” Virgil said, ruffling Roman’s hair. “But I think that’s very admirable, Roman. I think Remus would appreciate it.”

Roman nodded again. “Okay. We can do it together, then.”

“That sounds like a terrific idea,” Virgil said, smiling. “But right now we should go back to sleep.”

“Yeah, okay.” Roman headed back into the other room, and Virgil followed.

Roman nudged Remus as he approached the couch. “Hey.”

Remus blinked up at Roman, bleary-eyed and still half asleep. “Wha? Where’d ya go?”

“Talking with Virgil. Sit up, dummy. You’re hogging the couch.”

Remus stuck out his tongue even as he sat up. Roman sat down and curled into his side again. Virgil sat down on his own spot and tucked himself into Janus’ side.

He heard Roman whisper quietly as he was starting to fall asleep again. “Love you, Remus.”

“Love you too,” Remus replied.

…

Janus slid the piece of paper across to Virgil during breakfast one morning. Virgil looked down to see an address on it.

“Ah. This week’s creepy stalking victim. What the hell, Jan?”

“That’s your mother’s address, Virgil,” Janus said.

Virgil froze. “What?”

“Scott found her. He’s good at that. Told me because he apparently still thinks we don’t trust him and wanted to make sure I knew he was telling the truth about who it was. You don’t have to go see her. But I thought just in case.”

Virgil stared at Janus. “What?”

“You don’t have to go see her,” Janus repeated.

Virgil sat back in his seat and stared down at the piece of paper. “What?”

“You also don’t have to decide that right now,” Janus said.

Virgil didn’t reply for a second. “She still doesn’t remember me,” he said softly.

“I would guess not, no.”

Virgil looked down at the table.

“Again, you don’t have to decide right now,” Janus said, standing up. “I’ll be back here around lunch time and we can job hunt again or talk about this or whatever you want to, okay?” Janus kissed Virgil on the forehead before heading back to their bedroom. Virgil kept looking at the piece of paper until Janus left, and long after that.

He had moved by the time Janus arrived again. When he walked through the door he was on the couch, looking at jobs on his phone. He did still hate feeling dependent on someone, after all. The feeling was different with Janus, because he knew he wasn’t being malicious or intentional, but Virgil still wanted some way to be able to support himself without relying entirely on him.

Virgil heard the door open and turned to face Janus. “How’s the classroom coming along?”

“Ready for the students. Which is good, considering I only have half a year to go before I meet them.”

“Yeah, you barely made it,” Virgil said with a roll of his eyes. He set his phone to the side as Janus walked over to the couch to sit down.

“So I thought about Mom,” he said.

“Yes?”

“I don’t know if I want to see her face to face, but I don’t want to just… leave her. Especially when we don’t know what erasing her memory of me could be doing to her brain. We still don’t really know what it did to yours, or what it could have done to Patton and Logan overtime, I just… don’t want to risk it.”

Janus nodded. “Okay.”

“Could we try something else first?”

“What do you have in mind?”

…

Virgil hadn’t spoken to his mother since he was seventeen and she was forty five. He could safely say he had no earthly idea what he would say to his now sixty four year old mother who had lived most of her life (though not consecutively) not knowing she had a child at all. So Patton and Logan went to see her, explained the situation, gave her memories back…

And now they were writing letters.

Yes, it was old fashioned, and yes, it was a little bizarre, Virgil would be the first to admit. He would have been perfectly willing to see her in person if that was what she wanted, and he’d made that clear to Patton and Logan before he went. But she hadn’t had much of an idea how to bridge the gap either, and also no idea how to text or call using a smartphone, so they’d come to the compromise of letter writing for about a year and seeing where they stood then on meeting in person.

Virgil was satisfied with the situation for now, though he was still looking forward to the day they could meet up. He couldn’t say how happy he was that his mothers letters also came with casual “I love you”s that he returned easily. They would be good again, he was sure. It would just take a little time.

In the meantime, he had Janus, and the Sanders family, as well as Scott, Rosanna, and Karli. He’d even met up with Jamison a couple times to tell him what had happened with Diggory and to catch up. Life was going on. Virgil wasn’t sure how he’d ever thought anything else would happen.

“Janus?” he murmured, quietly, as they were both already laying in bed and he wasn’t sure Janus was still awake.

“Hmm?”

“I think I want to go back to school.”

Janus shifted, and a second later rolled over to face Virgil. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. I get my GED, then go to community college, then maybe get a Bachelor’s Degree. Then I can throw myself back into a broken job market, but one thing at a time.”

Janus chuckled. “That sounds like a good plan. You know, as long as you think you’re smart enough to get a GED.”

“Asshole,” Virgil said, smacking Janus on the arm not at all seriously.

“You love me.”

“I do,” Virgil said, before leaning in and giving Janus a kiss long enough to shut him up.

Janus was in fact speechless for a few seconds when he pulled back. “That’s not fair,” he grumbled, turning slightly and burying his head in his pillow.

“Course it is. You know why?”

Janus turned to face him again. “Why?”

“Because I love you.”

“Well, that’s unfortunate, because I cannot stand you.”

Virgil leaned closer. “Oh, you think I’m teasing? I love you, Janus Ekans. I adore you. You make the world come alive and make my life better by being a part of it. I love you more than I thought it was possible to love a human being, you are a magnificent joy that blots out the darkness of the world with your smile.”

Janus looked a little like he was having trouble breathing. “Can I get that in writing?” he choked out.

“Nope. In fact, I’m erasing the fact that I ever said any of it from your memory.”

“Nooo, I want to remember that speech.”

Virgil tried very hard in that moment not to think of the other speech he was writing, the one on a piece of paper hidden in his sock drawer along with a box with a ring in it and two tickets to a special art museum exhibit in a month. The speech that Patton was helping him write, since he’d been the one to propose to Logan.

“Oh, alright,” he said, wrapping his arms around Janus and kissing him again, shorter this time. “I’ll leave it. Just this once.”

Janus was still smiling when Virgil pulled away, and leaned forward again barely a second later to wrap his own arms around Virgil. Virgil tucked his head under Janus’ chin and Janus kissed the top of his head, and that was where they remained until both of them drifted off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I had a lot of fun writing this story, and I'm glad that you all have enjoyed it so much too! If you know me, you know I'm working on something else already, but I'm not entirely sure when it will be posted. I'm hoping it will be soon. In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed this conclusion!


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